Dragon's Heart
by FairyTailfan1089
Summary: Erica and Gray have known each other since they were little kids. when their master, Ur, sealed Deliora away, The same monster that destroyed their hometown, Gray and Erica left to find other wizards when they became separated. That's when Erica found Freena. The Ice Dragon that taught her Dragon Slayer magic. This is my first Fan-fiction enjoy!
1. Prologue

10 years ago….

Deliora cries rang throughout the town. Fire was ablaze and buildings crumbled to the ground. People in the once quiet streets panicked and ran in all directions.

It was hard to believe that just moments before, my family was all sitting down to dinner, but now, all that was changed as my mom and dad struggled to move pieces of the second floor out of the way so we could escape the burning building.

The flames were closing in and the air was getting thick,but all we could manage was a gap big enough to fit only a child through.

A child like me.

Dad wiped his brow and turned to me, "There's not enough time and the gap's only big enough for you to go through.I want you to get out and find Gray and his parents and stay close to them."

" But what about you?" I asked. Surely they were coming too.

" There's not enough time for us, you'll just have to leave without us."

"But-" I began to protest. I couldn't imagine losing mom and dad. What would I do without them?

" Go!" mom said, "Before it's too late!" Mom helped me through the gap. It was a tight fit but I managed to squeeze through.

With a last glance, I ran to the door and made my way outside where I was met with my best friend, Gray, running towards me.

"Erica!" He said when he slowed down at my side. "I'm glad you're alright." He grabbed my hand. "C'mon! Let's get out of here!" We began running through the crowded streets.

"Where's your mom and dad?" He asked. "Are we meeting up with them or something?"

"No…" I said "They...didn't make it." A tear fell down my cheek, but I wiped it away.

"Oh…" there was a moment's pause. "I'm sorry," He said, "mine either." Gray looked like he was about to cry too and could hear anger in voice. "Let's just keep going."

" Wait,where are we going?"

"I don't know,but let's just focus on getting out of here first."

We ran towards the edge of town in silence. We stopped for a moment to catch our breaths and Gray took my hand again and we continued to run. My legs were beginning to ache and I was growing tired,but I kept running. That is, until I was suddenly pulled face-first in the cobblestone.

I looked behind me and saw that a large piece concrete fell on my leg. I tried to pull my leg free but it was no use.I was stuck.

"What's wrong?" Gray asked coming to a stop.

" My leg's stuck." I said giving it another tug.

He must have heard something because he looked up. I looked up,too to see what he was looking at and my heart dropped.

The structure that loomed over us began to crumble. In a panic, I attempted to free my leg as fast as I could but it still didn't move.

Gray ran over to my side and tried to help me.

" What are you doing?" I asked. If he was with me when that building fell, it would crush him too.

"What does it look like I'm doing?I'm trying to free you" He said trying to lift the concrete slab.

"But if you stay here any longer you'll get crushed too!" I didn't want to lose Gray too.

"Does it look like….I care?" I could feel the concrete begin to lift up from my leg. "Wherever you go….I go….If you die….I die," Finally, the concrete slab was lifted off of my leg. However , the building above us continued to crumble.

"Whatever happens," Gray said panting and sweating, "I will always be with you,Erica.I promise."

As if his words were a trigger, the building gave way and everything went black until I was woken up by the sound of a woman's voice calling from far away "Lyon! We've got survivors!"


	2. Chapter 1 Galuna Island

"Erica," I heard someone calling my name. "Erica,time to wake up."

I opened my eyes to see my boyfriend,Gray, standing over me. "We've got a job to do so let's get started."

 _A job?_ I thought Oh, wait, that's right! Lucy and Natsu wanted to go on that S-class quest to lift the curse off of Galuna Island.

I stood up and was about to get dressed when I remembered…

….. _the boys…._ Natsu, Happy and Gray were still in the room.

I turned to Natsu and Happy who were still groggy from sleep.

"Do you mind?!" I said. Natsu gave a loud yawn.

"Mind what?" I rolled my eyes and pointed to the door.

" Oh, right." He said scratching the back of his head. Then he,Happy and Gray left the hut.

After me and Lucy got dressed, we went outside to meet the boys who were fighting as usual.

" Pervert!" Natsu shouted at Gray.

"Flame brains!" Gray shouted back.

"You kept me up all night with your snoring!" Said Natsu.

"Oh, and what about you!" Said Gray, "Your snoring was so loud it shook the hole hut!"

"Looks like they're at it again." Said Lucy. "Honestly, It's like they're little kids."

"Come on you two," I said stepping in between them. "We've got a job to do so let's not waste time arguing."

"Why do we have to get up so early?" Whined Happy.

"The faster we get the job done,the better." I replied.

" And what is it that we're supposed to do exactly?" Said Lucy.

"We're going to search the island and find clues as to why those villagers turn into demons every night." Said Gray.

"So we should split up then,right?" said Natsu.

I shook my head. "This isn't any normal job,Natsu. We don't know what else is on the island so it would be safer to stay together."

The trip was long and silent until Lucy spoke up. "So,Erica, what's it like going on an S-class quest?"

Lucy and Natsu had no idea what they were getting into when they took that S-class quest. They weren't even S-class wizards,yet they stole the job anyway. When Master found out, he sent me after them,considering I was an S-class wizard. And Gray decided to come with me, but somehow, we got dragged along on the quest. The least I could do was give Lucy and Natsu a head's up about what to expect on a quest like this.

"It's a bit more challenging." I said. "The enemies are a lot stronger and it's way more dangerous, that's why the clients pay so much. So we should be careful while we're here.I don't want anybody to get hurt." I turned to Natsu,Gray and Happy who all looked distant. It was clear we were all thinking about Lisanna. Before 2 years ago, Master used to let any wizard go on an S-class quest, provided they took and S-class wizard along with them. That was until Lisanna died. After that, no one but S-class wizards were allowed on S-class quests.

"So how long have you been an S-class wizard,Erica?" Lucy asked.

"About 2 years after I joined the guild." I said.

"Wow! So, how old were you when you joined?"

" I was 10 years old,just after Natsu joined the guild."

"And yet Natsu still isn't an S-class wizard." said Gray with a smug look.

"Oh? and what about you!" said Natsu, "Like you're any better than me?! You've been nominated for the S-class trials twice and still haven't passed!"

"At least _I've_ been nominated. You're just too immature!That's why you haven't been picked for S-class trials!"

"Yeah! Because walking around in your underwear is sooo mature!" Said Natsu.

During Gray and Natsu's spat,there was a noise in the distance. But I couldn't quite place what the sound was. Lucy turned to me. "Erica,Is something wrong?"

"I thought I heard something just now." I said.

"What do you think it was?"

"Not sure." I replied, I turned to Natsu and Gray who were still fighting.

"Idiot!" Yelled Gray.

"Streaker!" Yelled Natsu.

"Guys!" I said. "Be quiet! I think I heard something."

Natsu turned to me. "So what if you-"

 _BOOM!_

But he was interrupted by a giant,rather ugly looking,blue rat that just appeared through the trees.

"EW! A rat!" screamed Lucy.

"It's huge!" said Natsu.

"What are we standing around here for?!" Said Gray "Ice make…..Hammer!" He shouted as a hammer made out of ice materialized and hit the giant blue rat on the head.

"Hey! Don't hog all the fun!" Said Natsu, "Fire dragon…...Iron Fist!" A burst of flame engulfed Natsu's hand as Natsu punched the rat in the gut.

"Now it's my turn!" said Lucy holding a golden key in the shape of an axe. "Taurus!" A black and white bull emerged from Lucy's key.

"MOO!" Taurus said. "Oh Miss Lucy,looking hot as ever I see." Taurus began wagging his tail.

"No time for flirting! Just kill that rat!" Said Lucy.

"You got it Miss Lucy!" Taurus swung his giant axe but the rat was still standing.

"Guess it's my time to shine!" I said. "I ce Dragon…...ROAR! A blast of ice shot from my mouth, making the giant rat sway and hit the ground with a loud _THUD_.

We all took a breath.

"Is it dead?" Asked Lucy after sending Taurus back to the celestial spirit world.

"No," I said, "But we should leave before it wakes up. Let's go."

We continued walking in silence until we came across an ancient looking temple in the middle of the island.

"Huh?" Said Lucy. "A temple?"

"Let's go check it out!" Said Natsu.

"Alright," I said "But we should be careful, we don't know what-"

But Natsu and the others were already halfway to the temple.

"Hey!" I said running after them "Wait up!"

When I finally caught up, we were inside the temple which looked as old inside as it did on the outside.

"Woa!" Said Gray, "this place is ancient."

"Let's see just how old this place is." Natsu said, stomping on the old stone floor.

"Natsu!" We all said in unison.

" What?" Natsu threw his hands in the air. "It's not like the floor's gonna collapse."

"Still," I said, "we should be more careful."

Just then, the ground began to to give way.

"What the-?" Said Gray before the floor fell from underneath our feet and we fell through.

When we hit the bottom, I landed face-first on something that seemed to be like an oddly soft rock.

"ACK!"

Or at least I thought it was until I looked down and saw that I was nose to nose with Natsu.

"EEEEK!" I cried punching Natsu in the face.

"OOOW!" Said Natsu. "What was that for?!"

"For being a pervert!" I said getting to my feet.

"Pervert?! you were the one who fell on _me!_ " He said rubbing the spot on his cheek where I punched him.

"Natsu!" I turned to see Gray running toward Natsu with his fist raised. "Get away from Erica!"

"Chill out,man!" Said Natsu waving his hands in front of his face, "It's not what it looks like! Besides, she practically threw herself at me."

Gray's eyes flickered in a jealous rage.

"I'm gonna knock your teeth in!" He yelled as he and Natsu began throwing fists at each other.

"Wow," Said Lucy who was watching the whole thing. "Gray's really protective over you,isn't he?"

"Yeah,"I said, "It's been like that since we were kids….But I think he just wanted an excuse to fight Natsu."

Suddenly, I heard the sound of dripping water. I turned to the source and I felt all of the feeling leave my body.

 _It can't be!_ I thought. _It just can't be!_ I opened my mouth to scream but nothing came out.

Lucy turned to me. "Erica? Are you alright?What's wrong?"

I opened my mouth to say something but I couldn't. It was like I'd forgotten how to speak. The boys stopped their argument.

"Erica?" Said Gray. "What's wrong? You're shaking!"

"I-It c-can't be!" I managed to say. I pointed with a shaking finger. Gray followed his gaze to where I was pointing and he too was shaking and speechless.

"Woa!" Said Lucy, "it's huge!"

"That's impossible!" Said Gray, "How can Deliora be here?!"


	3. Chapter 2 Old Friends

"Deliora?" Said Natsu, "Is that what that thing's called?"

"I-I don't understand," I said. "How can he be here?"

Gray put his arm around my shoulders. It calmed me to have him by my side.

"Wait!" Said Lucy, "you've seen this thing before?!"

"10 years ago, Deliora destroyed me and Gray's home town." I said. "We were the only survivors. After that, our master Ur , took us in She sacrificed her life to seal him away."

"So,what should we do now?" Asked Happy.

"I think we should wait here for a while." Said Gray sitting down.I sat next to him and rested my head on his shoulder.

"Hey,Erica?" Asked Lucy.

"Hmm?"

"You're a Dragon Slayer like Natsu,right?"

"Yeah,"

"Were you trained by a dragon like Natsu was?"

"Yeah,her name was Freena the Ice Dragon. After Ur died,me and Gray set off to find other wizards. We were going across Mt. Hakobe when we were hit by an avalanche and were separated. That's when Freena took me in and taught me all the Dragon Slayer magic that I 2 years I trained with her until one day she disappeared without a trace. It was shortly after she left that I joined Fairy Tail." I looked up at Gray and saw a tear streak down his face.

"It must have been hard for you and Gray to be separated for 2 years." Said Lucy.

Gray wrapped his arm around me as if afraid i would float away. Afraid to let me go.

"Not a day went by that I didn't think about him." I said more to Gray than to Lucy. Another tear rolled down his cheek.

"Gray?" I said, "are you alright?"

"I'm fine." He said wiping the tears away. "Don't worry about me, but you should probably get some rest."

I awoke a few hours later in Gray's lap.

"you're awake." He said with a smile.

"Wait," Said Natsu, "I think I hear something."

The air became still except for a faint humming that seemed to get louder and then, a purple light shone above Deliora.

"What is that?" Asked Lucy.

"Moondrip." I said.

"Moondrip?" Said Natsu.

I nodded my head. "I read about it in one of master Ur's books. It said that moondrip has the ability to undo any spell. Even Iced Shell,the spell Ur used to seal Deliora away."

"But...Why?" Asked Gray, "why would anyone want to break Ur's spell?"

"I don't know." I said. "But we have to stop whoever is performing that spell."

"What happens if the spell is broken?" Asked Natsu.

"Deliora would be revived and he will destroy everything." Said Gray.

We made our way to the top of the temple where the ceremony was taking place and hid in the shadows so no one would see us. People in purple hooded cloaks chanted something in some sort of language I couldn't understand. And 4 others were standing to the side. One had dog ears and nose, another had blue hair and weird eyebrows, a girl with bright pink hair, and one who wore a helmet that masked his entire face.

"The ceremony is almost complete." Said the pink-haired girl.

"Yes," replied the man in the helmet. " And soon Deliora will be revived and I will defeat him once and for all."

 _That voice._ I thought. "Lyon's behind all of this?" I accidentally said out loud.

"It appears we have intruders." Said Lyon removing his helmet,revealing his white hair and pale face.

I stepped forward out of the shadows into Lyon's line of sight.

"Erica," Said Gray, "What are you doing?"

"Even if Lyon's behind all of this,I must stop him from reviving Deliora." I said.

"So we meet again,Erica." Said Lyon. "tell me,is Gray here as well?"

Gray stepped out along with Natsu,Happy and Lucy. "Stop this madness Lyon." he said.

"Madness?! I would hardly call it that."Lyon said. He then turned to the boy with blue hair. "Yuka, you and the others must go and kill the villagers, show no mercy."

"The villagers have nothing to do with this!" I said. How could he stoop to such low levels as threaten the lives of innocent people? Surely if he had an ounce of respect left for our master he wouldn't do something like this.

"The villagers are in my way and therefore must die." He said simply.

Gray turned to Happy. "Happy, go take Natsu and Lucy and follow Yuka and the others and make sure the villagers aren't harmed.

"Aye!" Replied Happy taking Lucy and Natsu, flying after Lyon's henchmen.

Lyon turned to us. "My my," He said. "Two against one is hardly fair. How about I even the playing field a bit. Ice Make….Snow Dragon!" A Dragon made out of ice and snow materialized and was headed straight for me.

"Erica!" Said Gray stepping in front of me, "Ice Make….Shield!" A wall of ice appeared, shielding me and Gray. However, the Snow Dragon dodged the shield and hit Gray in the side, blood spilled from the spot where the Snow Dragon hit him. "Gaah!" He stumbled backwards.

"Gray!"I cried. Gray covered his wound with ice. "I'm alright. Don't worry about me."

"I'm surprised." Said Lyon "That you're still in one piece after that attack."

"You knew!" I cried, "You knew that Gray would protect me!"

"You're smarter than I thought." Said Lyon with a laugh.

 _He was aiming for Gray,not me._ I thought as burning rage surged through my body. _He hurt Gray. And I won't let him get away with it!_

" I won't let anyone hurt Gray!" I shouted. "Ice Dragon…..Wing Attack!" Lyon flew across and landed with a thud.

"How did you learn Dragon Slayer magic?!That's one of the lost magics! Ur never taught us that!" He said getting to his feet. "Ice Make….Gorilla!" The ice gorilla charged at me and hit me in the jaw. Blood spurted from my mouth, but my feet stayed planted on the ground and I wiped the blood away.

"Why should I answer to you!" I said, "You threatened the lives of innocent people! That makes you an enemy of Fairy Tail! Ice Dragon…. Roar!" This time, though, Lyon was ready and he flipped in the air dodging my attack.

"Ice Make….Lance!" Cried Gray. Lyon dodged that too.

" _Enemy_?!" He said " _I_ am the enemy?!" His light green eyes glinted with fury. "The only enemy I see here is Gray! You of all people should know! He killed our master!"

"Shut up!" I shouted.

"It's Gray's fault Ur's dead!"

"I said,SHUT UP!" More rage began to build up inside of me. There was so much anger within me that I could hardly control it any more.

"It's not his fault!" I roared.

Lyon scoffed. " _Not his fault?!"_ He said. "If Gray hadn't picked a fight with Deliora, Ur would still be alive!" I could feel the magic energy swelling around me. I was going to make him pay. _It wasn't Gray's fault._

"You're lying!" Balls of Icy wind covered my hands. I prepared to throw them at Lyon when the giant rat from earlier came down with Yuka and his comrades on its back.

Lyon gave curt laugh. "I'd love to stay and chat, but we have a village to destroy." He hopped onto the rat's back and it took off whirling its tail like a helicopter and flew away.


	4. Chapter 3 Save the Village!

"Get back here Lyon!" I yelled. "Get back here and face me you coward!"

Gray took a hold of my shoulders. "Erica, calm down!"

I struggled under Gray's grasp.

"No! He has to pay! He has to! It wasn't your fault!" Gray shook my shoulders. "Erica! Snap out of it!"

I looked into Gray's eyes. "But he….he-" I said as tears began to fill my eyes. I was at a loss for words.

Gray wrapped his arms around me. "I know," He said. I stood there in his arms as I let the anger float away.

"But right now," He said, "We've got to get back and help the villagers."

We silently made our way back to the village gates. From the top of the gates we heard someone shout, "Someone's coming!" Just then, the gate opened and we were met by all of the villagers with Lucy, Natsu, and Happy standing in front. All three were waving their hands in front of their faces,shouting, "No! Stop!"

I stopped and looked down to see a suspicious pile of grass. Obviously a lame attempt for a trap. "No one's going to fall for that." I said.

"What's with the grass?" Said Gray stepping on the pile of grass. And sure enough, he fell through. "Gyaa!" and landed with a thud.

"He actually fell for it." I said shaking my head.

"OOOW! Seriously! What's the big idea?"

"Sorry," Said Lucy, "That was meant for the enemy."

Gray emerged from the trap holding his wound. It looked like it had reopened. Gray put another layer of ice over it.

"Are you guys alright?" Said Happy, "You look terrible."

"We've been better." Said Gray.

"Are you sure?" Said Lucy. "That looks like an awful wound."

Gray shrugged his shoulders, "Eh, I'll live. Anyways, That trap's not going to work."

"Why, you fell for it." Said Natsu.

"No,"I said, shaking my head. "the trap's not going to work because they're going to be flying in from a giant-" I was interrupted when a villager pointed to a flying blue thing in the sky.

"What is that thing?!"

"Oh no," I said.

"They're here." said Gray.

The giant blue rat hovered above the village holding a large bucket. In one swift movement,the rat dumped the the green contents of the bucket over the village.

Whatever that green stuff was, it couldn't be good. The villagers began to panic.

"What is that?!"

"What are we going to do?!"

"Natsu," I said. "When I tell you to, I want you to blast that green stuff.

"But-" He began to protest.

"Just do it!" I said. I ran to the center of the village. "Ice Dragon…..Frozen Blast!" A blast of ice shot through my hand and froze the green stuff mid-air.

"Now Natsu!" I shouted.

"Alright! Fire Dragon's…..Brilliant Flame! A ball of fire hit the frozen green jelly, dissolving it into thin air.

The giant rat came down and Yuka and the dog-boy dismounted.

"We tried to be nice by making your deaths swift." Said Yuka, "But now you're just going to have to suffer."

"Not unless we stop you first." Said Lucy.

"Ha!" I highly doubt that." Said Yuka.

Natsu's fist lit up in flames. "Me and Lucy will take on eyebrows here,you and Gray can take on dog-boy."

"I have a name you know!" said dog-boy.

"Alright then," I said, "Let's hear it."

"It's Toby."

Suddenly, the giant rat began to take off.

"They're getting away!" Said Gray.

"I'll get them!" Said Lucy preparing to go after the rat and the pink haired girl.

"No." Natsu held a hand out in front of Lucy to stop her. "We need to stay here and protect the villagers."

"But-"

"We can fight them later," I said. "But our main priority is taking care of these guys."

"We'll just see about that." Said Toby, retracting his long green nails. "My nails are infused with jellyfish poison! One scratch and you won't be able to move!" Toby swung his claws at me.

"Thanks for the tip!" I said dodging his claws.

 _This is too easy_ I thought.

"Huh?" Said Toby confused, which by the looks of it was pretty normal for him.

"Oh, and by the way," I said, pointing to my forehead, "you have something on your face."

"Who do you take me for?" Said Toby. "I'm not stupid enough to fall for a trick like that!" He swung his claws at me over and over but I kept dodging.

"Aw," I said with fake disappointment. "But you might fall for this! Ice Dragon…...Roar!"

Toby was knocked down unconscious. _Way_ _Too easy._

"You could have at least let me in on the fight." Said Gray, arms crossed.

I scratched the back of my head. "Sorry,I got a little carried away." I looked over at Natsu and Lucy who looked pretty victorious. I noticed that Yuka was Knocked out too, with a very ugly bruise on his face. Natsu's doing obviously.

"Natsu wouldn't even let me in on the fight." Said Lucy walking over to us.

"I know the feeling." Said Gray stealing a glance at me.

"Sorry," Said Natsu, "I got a little carried away."

"Funny,that's what I said."

"Well, I am going to find that pink-haired girl." Said Lucy Walking in the direction of the temple. That was where Lyon probably was and was I worried that they would cross paths.

As if Gray had read my mind, he put a hand on my shoulder. "Don't worry," He said, "Lucy can take care of herself. I nodded my head. Gray was right. Lucy was strong enough to handle things on her own.

After Lucy left, Gray went to the medicine supplies tent and got some bandages for his wound. We came back to the hut where we waited for Lucy to return. We waited all night but she didn't come back which only made me worry more.


	5. Chapter 4 That Fateful Day

Morning came but Lucy still didn't return. Natsu was gone a well, which I could only guess that he was looking for her.

"I'm going to go look for them," Said Happy.

"I'll go with you." I said standing up from the chair I had been sitting in all night. "Are you coming Gray?"

"No," He said, "I'll stay here and see if they come back."

"Alright," I said, "We'll be back as soon as we can." Me and Happy left the hut and Happy wrapped his tail around my waist and we set off into the sky.

We searched the island for what seemed to be like hours.

"I'm getting tired." Said Happy "We should take a break soon."

"Yeah,alright." Just then, I saw something bright and shiny on the beach below us. Lucy's keys maybe?

"Hey,Happy!" I said. "what's that on the beach over there?"

"We should probably go check it out." Said Happy as he lowered us onto the beach. As we got closer, I realized that the shiny thing wasn't Lucy's keys. It was armour.

Lucy stood facing the person in armour looking very scared. The person in armour had long, red hair and had their back turned to us. The only person that I knew who had long red hair and wore armour like that was Erza. There was no mistaking it. It was her. And judging by Lucy's expression, Erza was very pissed off. Which was probably because Natsu,Happy and Lucy stole the Galuna Island quest and me and Gray were helping them.

The color drained from Happy's face and the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. We were in for it.

"Run for it." I whispered to Happy, but it was too late. Erza noticed our presence.

"Where is Natsu?" said Erza with a sharp gaze.

"I don't know." I said shrugging my shoulders. "He left last night and didn't come back this morning."

"I see, and Gray?"

"Back at the village." Me, Lucy, and Happy got Erza up to speed with all that's happened so far.

"Show me where the village is."

I nodded my head and lead the way to the village. We stepped into the hut where I last saw Gray. But he wasn't there. He must've been out getting more bandages.

"I thought you said he was here." Said Erza clearly annoyed.

"He was when I last saw him." I said.

I see, then we shall wait for him to come back." She said taking a seat.

We waited a few minutes until Gray returned. It took him a second to realize what was happening. His face blanched. He stood at the doorway paralyzed in fear.

"There you are,Gray." She said with no emotion. "All of us are here except for Natsu. Once we find him, we will return t the guild where Master Makarov will decide your punishment."

"What?" Said Gray, "And leave the villagers?"

"Precisely"

"But we can't leave without helping them!" He said raising his voice. "We promised we'd help them!"

"You should have thought of that before breaking guild rules!" Said Erza jumping from her seat.

"I am going to help those villagers whether you like it or not!" He said storming out of the hut.

Instead of anger on Erza's face,there was sympathy. "This job is really important to him, huh?"

I nodded.

" _Sigh_ , helping them would be the right thing to do." She mumbled. She turned to us. "You may continue this job."

"Yay!" Happy and Lucy cheered in unison. I didn't cheer because, knowing Erza, there was more. And sure enough,

"However,"

"Aaww."

"When the job is done,you will accept punishment without complaint."

"Yes ma'am."

"Erica?"

"I understand." I said getting to my feet.

"Then we'd better catch up with Gray, it's best if we all stick together." Said Erza leading the way out of the hut.

I spotted Gray up ahead. He was headed towards the temple. I called out to him. "Gray!Wait up!" Gray turned around and faced me.

"You guys aren't going to stop me." He said.

"Who's stopping you?We're coming with you."

Gray smiled. "thanks, we're headed to the temple. If there's any chances of preventing Deliora from being revived,we'll have to stop Lyon from completing the ceremony."

The walk to the temple didn't take as long as the day before.

"Lucy?" I said, "Whatever happened to that pink-haired girl?"

"Oh, Cherry? I beat her last night."

"At least we won't have to worry about her then."

"So all that's left is Lyon and those guys in cloaks?" Asked Gray.

"Easy enough." Said Erza

"But that's like 50 people!" Said Lucy.

"Got a problem with that?

"No ma'am!"

I didn't say anything on the way to the temple. I was too lost in thought as memories of the day Ur sealed away Deliora came flooding back to me.

 _After being found by Ur and Lyon,Ur took me and Gray in and taught us maker magic. She treated us as if we were her own. We lived in the mountains so it was cold. But embracing the cold was the first step for Ice-make magic._

" _You want to learn magic don't you?" Said Ur. It was our first lesson with her._

" _Yes, but you're crazy if you think I'm stripping in the snow!" Said Gray stubbornly._

" _In order to learn ice magic, you have to become one with the cold."_

" _No way!"_

" _I'm already used to it." Said Lyon._

" _You're doing it?!" Said Gray bewildered._

" _It's not so bad,Gray." I added._

" _Erica! Not You too!"_

" _If the others can do it, so can you." Said Ur._

 _Eventually, Gray caved. Wearing nothing but our underwear, we would run laps around Ur's house. It took a while, but I was starting to adapt to the cold._

 _When Ur taught us magic, it came naturally to me as if it were second nature, like I was born to do magic. In no time at all, I was almost at Ur's level._

 _Gray was doing really well too. But I knew that the only reason he wanted to perform magic, was to exact revenge on Deliora.I tried to convince Gray to get over his anguish and grief. But all he could think about was revenge._

 _After several months of training with Ur, we had come so far. But one day…._

" _Gray, please!" I begged. "Don't go!" A snowstorm was raging outside. The wind was blowing snow onto my already white hair. Ice bit my cheeks and gusts of wind blew through the open cabin door. But I didn't care._

" _Deliora took our parents away from us!" Gray said. He was headed for Brogo where Deliora was spotted and this time, Gray was going to get his revenge. But we all knew that Deliora was too strong for him._

" _You'll die out there!" Said Ur, "Get back inside!"_

" _No! It's time Deliora paid for what he did!" I'm going and you can't stop me!" Gray walked away into the storm._

" _Gray!" I cried "Come back!I can't lose you too!" I watched as Gray became smaller and smaller until he disappeared into the storm. But then, something inside of me clicked. I wasn't going to let my best friend die._

 _I stepped through the threshold letting the snow cover my ankles._

" _Erica!" Said Ur "What are you doing?!"_

" _Saving my best friend!" I said running into the storm. I could hardly see past the snow and wind. The wind howled in my ears. But I heard Ur's voice getting closer and closer._

" _Erica!Wait!" Ur came into view with Lyon by her side._

" _You're not going alone."_

 _When we arrived at Brogo,everything looked the same as it had before. People were screaming and panicking, and fire engulfed the town. It didn't take long to find Gray.I rushed to his side. Tears were streaming down his cheeks._

" _I couldn't kill him….he was too strong for me."_

" _Don't worry, We'll get you home, everything will be alright." I said. "Right,Ur?"_

" _I'm afraid there is no going back." Said Ur walking towards Deliora. "And we can't let Deliora hurt any more people."_

" _Ur?" I said. "What do you mean?"_

" _I'm going to seal him away." She sounded like she was going to die._

 _Ur crossed one arm over the other and cried, "Iced….Shell!" That stance, that spell,I read about it in one of Ur's books. And I also knew that the caster would become the ice. I was never going to see Ur again._

" _No! Don't do this Ur,Please!" I cried._

" _What's going on?" Asked Gray._

 _Tears began blocking my vision. "If Ur uses Iced Shell, she will become the ice that seals Deliora away forever!"_

" _No!" Said Lyon. "If Ur dies, I won't surpass her!"_

" _Please," Said Ur, her skin beginning to break. "Don't cry, I'll live on. You're one of the best things that's ever happened to me.I love each and every one of you. Go on and live your lives to the fullest." Ur's skin broke and then a layer of ice began to cover Deliora._

" _Goodbye"_

 _Deliora was fully covered in ice and that's when I knew that she was gone._


	6. Chapter 5 Awakening

When we finally got to the temple, we were greeted by the people in purple cloaks. "Stop!We won't let you interfere with the Cold Emperor's plan!" Said one of the people in cloaks.

"Cold Emperor?" Said Gray.

"They must be talking about Lyon." I said.

"You go on ahead," Said Erza, "I will take care of these guys." Erza pulled out a silver sword.

"Me too!" Said Lucy.

"And me!" Added Happy.

"So it's just us ,then." Gray said. "C'mon Erica, let's go!" Gray took me by the hand and we entered the temple.

Lyon waited inside a throne room encased in ice.

"You are done threatening innocent people,Lyon! I said.

"I am simply doing what needs to be done."He replied coolly.

"You cannot revive Deliora and we won't let you!" Said Gray.

"Ha!I'd like to see you try."

Rage burned inside me. The mere sight of him sickened me. _How could he?How could he revive something that caused so much pain and anguish? Lyon was no better than Deliora himself._

I prepared to use a breath attack when Gray held his arm out in front of me. He stepped in front of me, facing Lyon.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"There is only one way to settle this," He said.

I stood there in shock as Gray stood one arm crossed over the other, legs shoulders width apart.

The same stance Ur used before she cast Iced Shell.

My mind raced. All i could do was stand there paralyzed with shock.

"I am going to end this here and now!" a surge of magical energy emerged from Gray, his skin breaking just as Ur's had.

My heart pounded in my ears. _This wasn't real, it couldn't be._

"Do whatever you want." Said Lyon. "It's not going to make a difference."

 _I was going to lose him. Just as I had 9 years ago._

"Gray!" I cried. Don't do this! Please!"

"I'm sorry,Erica. But I have no choice!"

'no' I whispered. Hot tears clouded my vision.

 _I was going to lose Gray._

"Just know that I will always love you."

 _I couldn't lose him.I just couldn't….Not again!_

"Iced….Shell!" Gray's arms sliced through the air releasing the magical energy.

"NOOO!" Without a second thought, I ran into Gray knocking us both to the ground.

"What the-"

Tears flooded from my eyes.

"I'm not going to let you die, Gray!" I cried.

"Erica?"

"We can't let Ur's sacrifice be in vain!" I wiped the tears away on the back of my hand.

"...Besides….I'm not going to let you hog the fight." I managed a small smile.

"uhh...but-"

I stood up and took his hand, helping him to his feet.

"We're doing this together, as a team."

"How touching." Said Lyon, "But there is no way you two are going to stop me."

"Just watch!" Said Gray, "Ice Make….Hammer!"

"Ice Dragon…..Frozen Fist!" I yelled.

Lyon dodged both our attacks. "Is that the best you can do? Ice Make….Birds!"

A flock of ice birds flew at us. I was unable to dodge them as each bird hit me one by one. But I stood my ground.

"Tell me something Lyon," I said, "Why revive Deliora?"

Lyon laughed. "Isn't it obvious?! I want to kill Deliora! The one thing Ur couldn't do! If I kill Deliora, I will finally surpass Ur!"

He continued to pelt us with ice birds. Blood dripped from my cuts and I began to feel myself weaken.

One of the birds was headed straight for my face. Waiting for the right moment,I grabbed it just inches from my nose and shoved it into my mouth.

Lyon's face was priceless. He was so dumbfounded he could hardly speak.

"H-ho-how d-did you?" He stuttered.

"Did you forget that you're up against a dragon slayer?" I said wiping my mouth.

"It's all over for you Lyon." Said Gray. "When a dragon slayer eats their element, it rebuilds strength and amplifies their power."

"What! I won't be defeated by the likes of you!" Lyon shouted, "Ice Make…..Tiger!"

"Ice Dragon…...Transform!" I said my skin began to cover in icy dragon scales and dragon horns appeared behind my ears.

I ran straight at the ice tiger and with one uppercut punch, it shattered to pieces. This time, it wasn't just Lyon who was stunned.

"I didn't know you could do that!" Said Gray with his jaw dropped open.

"A spell that can take on the qualities of a dragon." Said Lyon, "How did you learn something like that?!"

"How? You ask?" I said. "A dragon taught me."

"A Dragon?!" A weakling like you, taught by a dragon?! Impossible!"

"Maybe I'm not as weak as you think! Ice Dragon…." I sucked in the cold air.

"Nice knowing ya' Lyon." Said Gray with a smirk.

"No! I will not be defeated!"

"...RRRR OOOO AAAA RRRR!" I mustered up all of my strength into that one roar. It did the trick because Lyon lay face-first on the ground.

"Damn," Said Gray dumbstruck. " I've never seen you roar like that before. But….I think you overdid it." said Gray pointing to his feet which were frozen in ice.

It was all I could do not to laugh. I covered my mouth holding my laughter back.

"It's not funny!" Said Gray.

"S-sorry." I chuckled out. "I-I can't he-help it!" His cheeks turned red in embarrassment.

"Just fix it already."

"A-alright." I cleared my throat which got rid of the laughter bubbling inside.

After I released Gray from the ice, a purple light shone down from the ceiling. The moondrip ceremony was starting.

"Crap!" Said Gray. "We have to stop the moondrip before-" He was cut off when the whole temple began to shake and a loud cry rang through the air. It was so loud, it felt like my ears could burst. I tried to cover them with my hands but I could still hear it.

I've heard this noise before, when Deliora destroyed our town.

"We're too late!" I said over the noise. "What now?"

"We have to stop Deliora." Said Gray.

We made our way to the cavern where Deliora was yesterday. Only this time, Deliora wasn't encased in ice.

All the ice had melted into a pool of water around Deliora.

He had been revived.

Everyone else had already arrived. As well as Natsu who was probably here the whole time.

"We're gonna die!" Wailed Lucy with her hands over her ears.

"Geez Lucy," Said Happy. "I didn't know you were such a crybaby."

"Shut-up stupid cat!"

"You're not going to die." Said Gray. I could see a sort of finality in his eyes. "I know how to deal with this demon."

Somehow, I knew what Gray was thinking about. Iced Shell. And I wasn't going to let Gray attempt that spell again.

I placed a hand on his shoulder. Gray looked at me. As if he read my mind, he said, "I don't have a choice."

I shook my head. "There's always another choice, Gray."

"What other choice?"

I released my hand from Gray's shoulder and made my way towards Deliora. "When someone casts Iced Shell, not only do they freeze their target, but over time, Iced Shell depletes its life force. Little by little. Since it's been 10 years, Deliora should be almost dead. All he needs is a little push. Ice Dragon…..Roar!" We watched as Deliora crumbled to pieces and fell into the water.

I stood at the edge of the water that was once my master,Ur. I stared at my reflection and saw a 17 year old girl with ice blue eyes and long white hair staring back at me. I had cuts and bruises top to bottom. _God I looked terrible._ Then reality hit me. _If I hadn't stopped Gray when I did, I would have lost him._

Suddenly, all the sadness I felt the day Ur died, came flooding back to me. I knelt to the ground and watched as the girl in the water's eyes fill with tears. _My tears._ I let them run down my face and into the water,making tiny ripples on the surface. I grasped the edge of my skirt and sobbed.

I felt a gentle hand on my shoulder. I turned my face to meet Gray's dark eyes.

"Erica,what's wrong?"

"I-I-I almost...lost you today." I looked back into the water and saw Gray kneeling next to me hand over my shoulder, concern written in his eyes."I d-didn't...want to lose you...again!"

"again?"

"After I lost you on that mountain…..I thought I'd never see you again. And when you….attempted Iced Shell…." My tears began to fall faster and my throat felt like it was closing in. "I….couldn't….let you…...because…..I….I…...I love you too much to let you go!"

I looked back into Gray's eyes. "you're everything to me,Gray and I love you and I don't want to lose you…..not again….not ever."

"Erica." Gray pulled me into an embrace. "I'll always be with you. You'll never have to lose me again."

"Promise?"

"Promise."


	7. Chapter 6 A Job Well Done

We made our way back to the village after defeating Deliora. There was still the matter of returning the villagers back into their original forms.

"When are you wizards going to destroy the moon?!" Demanded the village chief.

"Does he actually think the moon can be destroyed?" I whispered to Gray.

"This guy's insane." He whispered back.

Destroying the moon will be a piece of cake." Said Erza.

"She's kidding,right?" Said Lucy.

"Alright!" Said Natsu excitedly.

"And you're going to help me, Natsu." Said Erza.

"Let's get this party started!"

Erza requiped into her giant armour.

"She really thinks she can pull this off." I said in disbelief. Erza and Natsu climbed up onto a watch tower. Erza pointed her spear towards the purple moon.

"Ready Natsu?" She said

"Yup!"

"When I tell you to,I want you to hit the back of my spear with your flames. Can you do that?"

Natsu nodded.

"1...2...3...Now!"

Natsu did as Erza told him to and hit the spear with his flames. The spear soared through the night sky as the villagers cheered. It came into contact with the moon which began to break.

"No way!" Gray,Lucy,Happy and I said in unison. But then, the rest of the sky shattered, revealing a bright silver moon underneath.

"Huh?" That was weird. _Why would the sky break as well?_ Then it hit me.

"Oh,now I see!" I said. "The moondrip must have caused a gas that crystallized and made the moon appear purple!"

"You're quite right." Said Erza descending the tower. "Since the membrane has been broken, the villagers should return to normal."

We waited for the villagers to turn back to their human forms, but nothing happened.

"Why didn't they change back?" Said Lucy, confused.

"Because that's their original forms." Said Erza. "Because of the moondrip, it caused the demons' memories to be altered. Which made them think that they were humans who were cursed."

"Thank you for your help." Said the village chief. "We shall have a feast in your honor."

There was dancing and eating all throughout the night. The food was rather…..exotic, but it tasted pretty good.I sat next to Gray as we ate when about 5 demon girls came up to him.

"Dance with us Gray!" said one.

"Yeah! We think you're sooo dreamy!"Said another

 _Dreamy? They were calling MY boyfriend dreamy?!_

"Uhhh?"

'bimbos' I muttered under my breath. I gripped my spoon until I felt it snap in half under my hand.

"Looks like someone's jealous." Happy teased.

"T-that's very nice of you girls," Said Gray. "B-but I can't-"

"-Because he already has a girlfriend." I added pointing to myself. "But Natsu over there is single." I pointed to Natsu who was eating soup.

"Wait, What?!" Said Natsu taken aback.

"You're right!" Said the girls. "He's soooo cute! Dance with us, Natsu!"

"Gyaaa! You'll pay for this, Erica!" Said Natsu as the demon girls dragged him to the dance floor.

The rest of the night wore on and when the sun rose in the morning it was time for us to leave. We said goodbye to the villagers. Lyon and his friends apologized for all of the trouble that they caused So we left on a good note, which is good because Ur wouldn't have wanted us to keep hating each other.

Erza had refused the prize money but accepted the gate key for Lucy. Which was fine for her and all, but it would have been nice to have that 5,000,000J.

And then there was still the matter of our punishment awaiting us when we returned to the guild.

We arrived the next day at the guild and at this point we were all nervous about our punishment. (All except Erza of course.)

"We're back!" I said to Mirajane who was standing behind the bar.

"Good to see you cuz'! How was it?" She said with a cheery smile.

Although Mirajane and I were cousins, we looked more like sisters. We shared the same white hair and pale skin. The only difference was that her eyes were a darker shade of blue.

I shrugged my shoulders. "Work is work I guess."

"Is Makarov here?" Asked Erza.

"I'm here." Said Makarov. "And if I remember correctly, there is some punishment that needs to be addressed.?"

"Yes sir."

I could feel myself sweating. I was going to be stripped of my S-class title. I just knew it.

"Natsu,Gray and Lucy," Said Makarov.

"Y-yes s-sir?" Said Natsu with a shaky voice.

"You three are to be suspended from taking on any jobs requests for a week."

"What?!" Said Lucy. "But my rent's due tomorrow!"

"Well if it's money you need, then you all can work off your punishment by cleaning the entire guild hall…."

"Nice going, Lucy!" Said Natsu sarcastically.

"...With these toothbrushes!" Makarov held up 3 toothbrushes.

"Aw! No fair!" Cried Gray. "That could take us days!"

"Then I suggest you get started…...and Erica,"

"Yes sir?" _Oh no! Here it comes! My life is over!_

"You will not be punished."

"What?!" Natsu, Gray and Lucy raged in unison.

"Master, " Said Erza, "I don't quite follow. She helped them with the quest. Shouldn't she be punished too?"

"Yes. But you helped too, didn't you Erza?"

At the this Erza was speechless.

"Considering you two are S-class wizards and that was an S-class job, both of you are exempt from punishment."

"I understand,Thank you master."

"Now as for you three," Makarov turned back to Natsu, Gray and Lucy. "I suggest you start cleaning."

"Yes sir!" Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Happy slowly backing away.

"Oh! I almost forgot!Happy, you were the one that stole the quest." Happy froze in his tracks. "Thought you could escape punishment,huh?" Makarov gave Happy a toothbrush. "Remember this next time you steal a job."

"Aye sir!"

Natsu, Happy, Gray and Lucy all got to cleaning the guild hall. To be honest, I kind of felt bad that they had to do all of that work while I didn't have to. However, it didn't take long for Gray and Natsu to start fighting.

"This is your fault,Natsu!" Said Gray.

"My fault?! How is this my fault?"

"You're the one who stole the job request in the first place!"

"Aw geez!" Said Lucy scrubbing the wall. "Do they always have to be at eachothers throats like this?"

"It's Gray and Natsu. What'd you expect?" I said.

"Well you didn't have to tag along!" Spat Natsu.

"Tag along?! You tied me up and dragged me with you!" Said Gray.

"But you still helped on the mission."

"Because it was the right thing to do!"

"If those two keep fighting like this we'll never get this done!" Said Lucy.

After a while of sitting and watching the others clean. I stood up and went over to the request board. One job caught my eye. It was a gathering job on Mt. Hakobe for the snow lily for 100,000J.

 _Mt. Hakobe. That was where I met Freena. And lost Gray._ Before Freena found me, I felt so lonely on that mountain,like I'd never be happy again.

"Looking for another job?"

I was whisked out of my thoughts when Erza came up beside me.

"Huh?Oh,yeah,I'm just looking."

"I see…..Hmmm." Erza picked up the snow lily flyer. "This job seems perfect for you,Erica."

"Y-you think so?" After joining the guild, I swore to never go back to that mountain,at least not alone.

"Is something the matter?" Erza asked.

"Oh,no!It's just that...I would much rather wait until they're done." I said pointing to Natsu,Happy,Lucy and Gray.

" True, it would be easier to find a rare flower like this with more people searching." Erza walked over to Mira with the job request in hand. I couldn't make out what they were saying,but I would probably guess that Erza was accepting the job.

I was going to have to go back to Mt Hakobe.


	8. Chapter 7 Mt Hakobe

Erza returned with a smile on her face. "We got the job,but the others can't come along due to their punishment."

 _So that meant that Gray couldn't come either. We usually went on jobs together. Would he be upset?_

"So, it's just the two of us?"

"Yep, so come on, let's get going."

Just as we were about to leave, Gray said, "Hey, where are you guys going?"

"Me and Erza are going on a job." I said "But don't worry, we'll be back soon." I quickly added.

"What job is it?" Gray took the flyer from Erza's hands and studied looked from the flyer and back to me. "Hakobe? Are you sure?" He said with concern. I could tell he didn't want me to go.

"Don't worry," I reassured. "It's just a small job. It won't take long. Besides, I have Erza with me."

Gray sighed. "I don't know…"

"We'll be fine,Gray. I'll be back soon. I promise."

Gray hesitated for a moment. "Alright, well, good luck." With that he pulled me into a hug. "I'll see you when you get back."

I waved goodbye, as me and Erza headed out the door.

The journey to the mountain took the rest of the day. We would have been there sooner, but Erza brought so much stuff with her that we couldn't take a carriage. I was relieved when we didn't have to ride one of those things. Natsu wasn't the only one who gets motion sickness. It was nightfall by the time we reached the base of the mountain.

"We'll set up camp here for the night." Said Erza digging out two sleeping bags from her wagon of stuff.

Laying there, in my sleeping bag, I watched as the flames from the camp fire dance before my eyes and lulled me to sleep.

 _Me and Gray had been walking for days and there was still no sign of a town._

" _There's nothing but fields and trees." I groaned. My tiny 8 year-old legs were tired from walking._

" _Don't worry, there's a mountain not too far ahead, and just past that is a town called Magnolia. At least that's what this map says." Said Gray._

" _A mountain?"_

" _Yeah, we're going to have to go over it to get to the town."_

" _Well, why not just go around it?"_

" _No, that would take too , we're wizards now! We can go over a mountain no problem!" Gray puffed up his chest in confidence and gave a toothy grin._

" _I guess…" I said sadly._

" _Hey, what's wrong?" Gray asked, his smile fading._

" _It's just that...being on a mountain is only going to remind me of Ur." It had only been a week since she died._

" _I know, I miss her too. But we gotta keep going. Ur would have wanted it that way."_

 _I nodded. "Yeah,alright." and we continued on our journey._

I awoke to the sun beating down on my face.

Me and Erza packed up our camp and started our trek up Mt Hakobe.

"Now it says here that the snow lily should be near the top of the mountain." Said Erza reading from the request flyer. "Should be about a day's journey."

Not long into the journey, things started to get colder as we ascended the mountain. Soon, snow piled up on the ground,covering my ankles. Walking through the thick snow brought me back to when I was last here.

" _Geez, it's like there's no end to this place." Said Gray, taking a seat on a nearby rock._

" _We've been on this mountain for two days and I'm tired. I told you we should have gone around." I took a seat on a rock too. Letting my legs rest._

" _We'll make it there soon." He replied. "We should be halfway there."_

 _We sat there for a while in silence. When there was a sudden loud noise. I jolted up from my seat. Whatever made that noise, it was big. Gray stood up too._

 _A large ape-like creature came out from behind the trees. I had grey and white fur and was three times our size._

 _A Vulcan! During our training with Ur, whenever one of these guys tried to attack, she let us take them on alone. They weren't too difficult and it provided good combat training. But there was something about vulcans that creeped me out. Maybe it was their weird taste for girls._

 _The vulcan swung its fist at Gray, sending him flying into a nearby tree._

" _Gray!"_

" _I'm fine! Don't worry about me." He said getting to his feet. "Ice make….lancer!" Spears of ice hit the vulcan in the chest._

" _Ice make….Hammer!" I cried, I leaped into the air and swung my ice hammer on its head._

 _The monkey swayed and collapsed with a loud thud that echoed throughout the mountain. There was a loud rumbling noise, we looked up and saw bunches of snow tumbling down the side of the mountain._

" _Run!" Gray seized my hand and we ran as fast as we could. But we weren't fast enough and it wasn't long before we were swallowed by the avalanche._

 _When I came to,everything was dark. I was surrounded by tightly packed snow. I made an ice sword and dug my way through. When I got out, there was no sign of Gray._

" _Gray?" I called out through the falling snow. Only an echo returned. "Gray! where are you?" He didn't answer. I called out for him again but still no sign of him._

 _Maybe he was buried in the snow? I dug frantically through the cold snow. "Gray?! Gray! Answer me!" Still nothing. The wind began to pick up, blowing my hair in front of my face. I pulled my hair behind my ears and I continued to dig until my fingers felt so numb from the cold that I couldn't dig any more. Defeated, I pulled my knees to my chest and buried my face in my knees and sobbed._

 _Gray was gone._

 _I lost my best friend._

 _I was alone._

 _After what felt like hours,I continued on. I had to find a way off of this mountain. With each step I took, I could feel the energy leaving my body._

 _I was growing weak, tired, cold and hungry. But for miles, all I could see was white. I continued on not caring about the frozen tears on my face. My legs soon grew weaker and weaker, until I could no longer stand. My vision blurred and my whole body felt numb. Suddenly, it felt like the earth was tilting and my head lay on the cold snow, then everything faded to black._

 _When I awoke, I was no longer lying in the snow. I was in some sort of cave. Outside, a snowstorm raged. But I was completely warm inside the cave._

 _How did I get here?_

" _Oh good, you're awake." Said a kindly voice from behind._

 _I turned around and saw a huge dragon with icy blue scales and horns. She would have been scary if it weren't for her gentle white eyes._

" _A Dragon?!"_

 _I had never seen one so up close before._

" _My name is Freena.I'm an Ice Dragon. I live on this mountain. I found you a few days ago,lying in the snow,so I brought you here. Good thing I found you when I did. You were near death. I wasn't sure if you'd make it. But you're alright now so that's good."_

" _You saved my life?Thank you."_

" _It was the least I could do."_

" _My name's Erica Freeman. I'm an ice wizard."_

" _A wizard huh?" I nodded my head._

" _My master,Ur taught us."_

" _Us? There are more of you?" Freena asked._

" _There was….but he's gone now." I stared down at my hands._

 _Gray was gone. My eyes began to fill with tears but I quickly wiped them away._

" _So, you're alone then?" I nodded my head slowly._

 _No Gray._

 _No Ur._

 _Just me._

" _You could live with me if you like." I looked up from my hands and into Freena's eyes._

" _Really!"_

" _Mmhm. And I could teach you my magic too."_

" _Teach me magic? But I already know magic."_

" _Tell me child, do you know what Dragon Slayer magic is?"_

 _I shook my head. I had no clue what that was. But it sounded cool._

" _It gives humans the power to take on the abilities of a Dragon."_

" _Dragon Slayer magic? Can you really teach me that!"_

 _Freena nodded. We can start tomorrow if you'd like."_

 _I ran over to her and wrapped my arms around her neck._

" _Thank you,Freena!" I looked up at her and gave her a wide smile._

 _I finally found a place to call home. I was no longer alone. For two years she trained me to use Ice Dragon Slayer magic._

 _She treated me like I was her own child. Freena was like a mother to me. She gave me hope._

 _I should have known it would be too good to last._

 _Gray's POV:_

 _I awoke in the snow with no sign of Erica in sight. The snow blew in every direction, wind howling in my ears._

 _I called for her through the storm. "Erica!Erica!Where are you?!" There was no answer._

 _Where was she? I called for her again and again, but still no response._

 _I called for her one last time. "Erica! Hey! Answer me!" This time there was a response but it wasn't her voice._

" _What do you think you're doing out here,kid?" It was a man's voice. A blond boy,about 17 or 18 emerged from the trees. He wore a large coat and headphones and had a long scar over his right eye._

" _Who are you?" I asked._

" _Name's Laxus,and I'll ask you again. What do you think you're doing out here all on your own?"_

" _Me and my friend, we were trying to find our way to Magnolia to find other wizards,but we got separated."_

" _Wizards,huh? Then you've come to the right guy!"_

" _You came to me."_

 _Laxus continued as if I hadn't said anything. "Let's get you off this mountain."_

" _I'm not going anywhere with you!" I crossed my arms across my chest stubbornly._

 _Laxus looked surprised. "This is no place for kids."_

" _I'm not leaving without Erica!"_

" _Look,kid. You said you wanted to find wizards,right?"_

" _Yeah, what's it to you?"_

" _I'm a part of a wizard's guild called Fairy Tail. I can take you there and we can send someone to find your friend."_

 _I heaved a sigh. "Fine, I'll go with you."_

 _Laxus gave a nod. "Good, Fairy Tail is not far from here. If we move quickly, we can get there by tomorrow afternoon."_

 _Laxus lead the way off of the mountain. Just like he said, we made it there by early afternoon the next day._

 _Fairy Tail was a two story building with a sign that said 'Fairy Tail' above the main entrance. And there were flags with a symbol that represented a Fairy's wing._

" _Here we are,kid." Said Laxus as we stepped inside the guild._

 _There were so many people there laughing and having a good time. There was a board with flyers with the words 'Request Board' on the top, and there was a bar where a short old man sat crossed legged drinking a beer._

 _Laxus walked over to the old man. "Hey,gramps, I found this kid here lost on Hakobe. Says he's lost his friend and needs our help."_

 _The old man looked at me. "What's your name,son?"_

" _Gray Fullbuster, and I was wondering if you could help me find my friend."_

" _Well,we can't go much on just 'friend' now can we?Tell me what's your friend's name?"_

" _Her name is Erica Freeman. She's an Ice wizard,like me, and she has long white hair and light blue eyes. Please! Can you find her?"_

" _We can try." The old man turned to a skinny man with curly brown hair and a white t-shirt and a pointed hat. "Reetus, can you draw a picture of Erica based on Gray's descriptions?"_

 _The man named Reetus nodded his head. "Oui!" And quickly sketched out a drawing and held it up for me to see. "Is this it?"_

 _It looked exactly like her. "Yes! That's it!"_

 _The old man turned back to me. "We'll send a search party to look for your friend. But I wouldn't get my hopes up. Finding one child on a mountain that big would be next to impossible, but we'll try our best. In the meantime, you should stay here, in Fairy Tail."_

" _Here?"_

" _You are a wizard,aren't you?"_

" _Yes."_

" _Well then, I'm sure you'll fit in quite nicely. But first, you'll need the official Fairy Tail stamp." He held up a stamp with the Fairy wing symbol. "Where would you like the stamp?"_

 _I lifted up my shirt and pointed to my chest. "Right here."_

 _The old man placed the stamp on my chest. "There you go. Welcome to Fairy Tail. I'm master Makarov, by the way. But you can call me gramps."_

 _For two years I waited. Each week, a team would return from Mt Hakobe, unable to find Erica and another team would go and return empty handed just like the last. I began to lose hope a little with each passing day._

 _Until I decided to accept the fact that she wasn't going to come back._


	9. Chapter 8 Mt Hakobe Pt 2

_After living with Freena for 2 years, I became stronger. I had spent each and every day not a day went by that I didn't think about Gray._

 _A part of me wanted to believe he was still alive somewhere._

 _I lay there on the floor of the cave, my head resting on Freena's tail, looking at the stars shining overhead._

 _Was it possible that Gray was still alive,looking at these stars and thinking about me? Then, Freena's voice interrupted my thoughts._

" _You should get some sleep. You've got a long day ahead of you tomorrow."_

 _I shook all thoughts of Gray out of my mind. "Are we training tomorrow?" I was hoping that Freena would finally teach me the 'Ice Blade' spell._

" _Something like that." She draped her wing over my body like a blanket. "Now,get some rest."_

" _See you tomorrow…." I gave a loud yawn "...mom." I closed my eyes._

 _Just before sleep took over, I heard Freena say to me._ _The last thing she ever said to me._

" _Goodbye, my daughter."_

 _I drifted off to sleep. Never knowing that she wouldn't be there in the morning._

 _When I woke up, Freena was gone. She left without saying a word. At the time, I had thought Freena was out gathering food or something like that. So,I waited. All day I sat there,waiting for her to return._

 _And the next day._

 _And the day after that._

" _She wouldn't leave me would she?" I asked myself. Three days had passed and Freena still didn't come back. She had never been away this long. Ever._

 _I hugged my knees against my chest. "She has to come back." Tears began to stream down my face._

 _Freena wasn't coming back and I knew it._

 _I was all alone again. Everyone I ever cared about left me._

 _First mom and dad._

 _Then Ur._

 _Then Gray._

 _And now….Freena._

 _I bit my lip,holding back the tears. The pain of being left alone was more than I could bear._

" _Why does everyone I care about have to leave!" I shouted through the nothingness. The sound echoed off of the walls of the empty cave._

 _I was alone._

 _No Gray._

 _No Freena._

 _No one. I was truly alone._

 _I stayed on for four more days. And each day I cried until I couldn't cry anymore. I always hated being alone. It was my worst fear._

 _My weakness._

 _On the last day, I left the cave. Without looking back because I knew there was nothing left for me there anymore.._

 _I trudged through the snow all day. Going nowhere in particular. No goal in mind. By midday I grew hungry. I hadn't eaten in a few days. I continued on in search of food. That would by goal from now on. Survival._

 _A little while later, I spotted a snowberry bush. My mouth watered at the sight._

 _Snowberries. Me and Gray used to eat these all the time when we were with Ur._

 _My heart suddenly filled with grief._

 _Gray._

 _My stomach growled. I took a handful of berries and stuffed them in my mouth. They left a juicy sweetness I wanted to savor. But my stomach said otherwise._

 _I was picking another handful of berries when I heard a pair of voices not too far away. I sniffed the air and picked up the scent of two men. They didn't smell familiar at all._

 _I ducked behind the bush so they wouldn't see me._

" _I'm telling you,man, we should just give up the search. There's no way we're going to find her." Said one._

" _I'm not going to give up, Wakaba!" Said the other. "It would crush him."_

" _Hate to break it to you, Macao, but the kid's already crushed. It's been two years. We should give up."_

" _No way! Gray would never forgive us if we don't at least try!"_

 _Gray? How did they know Gray?_

" _But he's already given up! It's about time we do the same."_

 _Wait a minute. I thought._

 _Gray._

 _2 years._

 _Her._

 _Was it possible they were looking for me? But, why would two strangers be searching for me? I had never seen them before. I didn't know them. So, why would they know me? Did someone send them to find me? But, who else knew that I was here, except…_

 _Maybe Gray didn't die in the avalanche. Maybe he was still alive._

" _I know," Said the man who was Macao. "But, I just want to see him smile. Just once. And if we find the girl, then-Hey! What's that behind the bush?"_

 _Crap!_

 _I hadn't realized that my foot was sticking out from behind the snowberry bush. I quickly pulled my foot in. But it was too late. They noticed me._

" _Probably just a rabbit or something."_

" _Rabbits don't wear boots."_

 _The snow crunched under the sound of the two men's feet. Coming over to where I was hiding._

" _Whoever you are, Come out now!"_

 _Hesitantly, I stood up from behind the safety of the bush where two young men stood facing me. The one on the right had dark blue hair and the other on the left had dirty blond hair. They both stood there wide-eyed. Mouths agape._

" _What did you say the girl looked like again?" Said the man with the blond hair._

" _White hair. Light blue eyes." The blue haired man took out a sheet of paper and looked at it,then back to me. "What's your name?" He asked._

 _I didn't respond. I had no idea who these guys were. They were complete strangers._

 _Should I tell them my name?_

 _Could I trust them?_

 _How did they know Gray?_

 _I stood there, silent. Thinking about what to do. Should I just run away? They didn't seem bad._

" _Hey, Kid. He asked you a question." The blond stood there impatient._

" _You don't talk to kids like that!" Said his partner. Then, he turned to me. "It's okay,you can trust us."_

" _...Erica Freeman." I muttered._

" _Well wadda ya know!" Exclaimed the blond. "You were right,Macao! Sorry I doubted ya!"_

 _I took a step back. I didn't how to feel about these guys. "Who are you! What do you want with me and how do you know Gray!?"_

" _You're friends with Gray Fullbuster,right?" Said Macao._

" _Yes. How do you know him? Where is he?"_

 _Macao held his hands in the air. "Chill out. He's safe. I promise." He then walked over and knelt down to my eye level so we were face to face. " He's back at the Fairy Tail guild. He sent us here to look for you."_

 _He didn't seem to be lying._

" _He's alive?"_

 _Macao nodded. "He's really worried about you."_

 _He was alive after all. After all this time, he was looking for me. Waiting for me._

 _Macao held out his hand. "He's there waiting for you. Will you come with us to Fairy Tail?"_

 _I stood there for a moment,hesitantly._

 _There was no way they could be lying._

 _Was there?_

 _I nodded my head and took Macao's hand. Macao stood up and gave a gentle smile. "Then let's get you out of here."_

 _Macao and Wakaba lead me to the town of Magnolia. People walked to and from shops and apartments. The town looked so lively._

" _What kind of guild is Fairy Tail?" I asked as we passed by Cardia Cathedral._

" _It's a wizard's guild. There are lots of kids there your age. Including Gray." Said Macao. "You're free to join too. If you're a wizard of course."_

" _Wow! Really?" A part of a guild! I could be a full-fledged wizard!"_

" _Mmhm! You can go on quests and earn money. Fairy Tail is the best there is. You won't find anything like it."_

 _We stopped in front of a building with the words Fairy Tail written across over the entrance._

" _Here we are!Welcome to Fairy Tail."_

 _Gray's POV:_

 _It was Macao's team to search Hakobe. But what was the point anymore? It's been two years and there's been no sign of Erica. Their week was drawing to a close and they would be back soon, without her._

 _The guild had expanded over the course of two years. Me and Cana weren't the only kids at the guild anymore._

 _Erza joined. So did Levy,Jet and Droy. And Mirajane, Elfman and Lisanna and finally, Natsu, who just joined a couple of days ago. At the very first sight of him, I hated him. He was so happy and excited all the time. No one could be that happy._

" _Are you sulking again Gray?" Erza. She was so bossy and always beats me up whenever me and Natsu fought._

" _Yeah, what's it to you?" She was almost as annoying as Natsu._

 _Almost._

" _Look. If this is about that Erica girl-"_

 _I scrapped my chair back and stood up, facing Erza. The whole guild fell into silence._

" _Shut up!Just shut up!" I clenched my jaw trying to keep the tears away._

 _I knew what she was going to say._

 _'It's no use crying about it'_

 _Why was she always trying to make me feel better?_

 _She doesn't understand._

 _No one does._

 _Erza crossed her arms. "Look,I understand-"_

" _No you don't! No one does! Just leave me alone!"_

 _Natsu leaned back in his chair and placed his hands behind his head. "Geeze. What's up with him?"_

" _Is that all he does is cry?" Said Mirajane. "How pathetic."_

" _Don't be mean,Mira!" Scolded her little sister, Lisanna._

 _It was always the same thing every day. Everyone thought that there was something wrong with me._

" _You're right. " Said Erza. "I don't understand. But I do know what it's like to lose a friend." Erza gave me a sympathetic smile. "And I also know that Erica is out there somewhere. We'll find her eventually. It's just going to take some time." There was a pause. " If you love something set if free, If it comes back. It was meant to be."_

" _What?"_

" _Meaning, if you truly care about your friend, you'll find her one day. In this life or the next."_

 _Just then the doors opened, and Macao and Wakaba entered._

 _They returned._

 _But I didn't notice the person standing behind them until,_

" _Hey! Cheer up Gray!" Said Macao. "We found her!"_

 _I couldn't believe my eyes as Erica stepped out from behind Macao and Wakaba with a teary smile._

 _Tears of joy clouded my vision. I ran to her_

" _Erica!" It was her. It was really her!_

" _Gray!" She ran into my arms._

 _I held on tight._

" _It's really you!" She buried her face in the crook of my neck._

" _It's me. And I'm never letting you go again."_

 _I had my best friend back after 2 long years. I had imagined this moment so many times but I never anticipated just how happy I felt._

" _See?" Said Erza. "I told you you'd find her eventually."_

 _And for the first time in two years._

 _I smiled._


	10. Chapter 9 The Slumber Party

"Looks like we're here." Said Erza as we reached the top of the mountain.

"Wow!" I exclaimed, gazing out at a field of blue lilies that sparkled under the setting sun. "It's so beautiful."

"Isn't it though? The snow lilies only grow on this particular mountain once every few years. They can be used as remedies for frostbite, the common cold and other ailments."

I looked at the request flyer. "Now it says here that the client asked for about a dozen of them."

"Easy enough." She said as she summoned on of her swords. She sliced through the lilies with her sword, chopping them from their stems.

"That's a bit overkill don't you think?" I said looking at a whole basketful of snow lilies. "You think you could have saved some for the mountain?"

"It's only half the field." Said Erza as if it were no big deal.

"You do know that these flowers are rare,right?They don't grow anywhere else but here."

"I am aware of that. Besides,we may just get a raise in our reward." She picked up the basket of lilies. "Now let's take these back to our client and head back to the guild. I suspect Gray is there waiting for you."

We headed down Mt Hakobe and back to Magnolia. Our client was a doctor that worked in the hospital in Magnolia and was more than pleased with our job. She even added 2,000J each to our reward. After dropping off the lilies, we made our way back to Fairy Tail.

"Oh, good you're back. " Said Gray. "How did it go?"

"Great! We even got a bonus."I said. "See Gray. I told you it wouldn't take long."

"Wow."Said Erza. "The guild looks spotless! You guys did a really nice job."

"Yeah," Said Natsu exhausted. "We just finished."

"Natsu and Gray just fought most of the time." Said Lucy. "It took us three days to finish."

"Psh!" Scoffed Natsu. "It was Gray's fault. He started it."

"Oh I started It? You hardly did any of the work!"

"Rgh! I did too! You're the lazy one Gray!"

"I am not lazy! I did more work than you did! You're just blind!"

"Blind,huh? Then what happened to your clothes?"

And sure enough, Gray was wearing nothing more than his underwear.

"Ah crap! Not again!"

"Cut it out you two!" Said Erza bopping both of them on the head. "No more fighting!"

Gray and Natsu rubbed their heads.

"Yes ma'am."

"Now I suggest we all go home and get some rest. It's getting late and we've all had a long day."

"Yeah,I'm beat." Said Lucy heading for the door. "See you tomorrow."

"Me too." I said stifling a yawn. "You coming Gray?"

"Yeah."

"Goodnight guys." I said as me and Gray went back to our apartment. It wasn't too far away from the guild. It was only just a block away. It was a two bedroom apartment and was only about 85,000J a month. Which was better than having to pay 100,000J for dorms.

"You know," Said Gray. "I'm really glad you're back. I missed you."

"It's only been three days." I said unlocking our apartment door.

"I know, but 3 days might as well be 3 weeks."

I could feel my cheeks burning red. I gave a small smile. "I missed you too."

We entered our apartment and he gave me a quick hug. "Goodnight Erica."

"Goodnight."

And with that we went into our separate rooms.

When I awoke the next morning, I made made some breakfast for me and Gray and we headed to the guild together.

However, when we got there, the guild was wrecked.

Windows were smashed and iron rods jutted out from every angle, damaging the roof and walls.

"Our guild hall!" I cried falling to knees.

What kind of monster would do something like this?

To our guild?

Our home.

My blood boiled at the sight.

Why would someone do this?

My punched my fist on the ground.

"Who did this to our guild?!"

Gray stood next to me too shocked to speak.

Mirajane emerged through the entrance doors. "It was Phantom Lord. They came and destroyed our guild last night."

"Was anyone hurt?" Gray asked.

Mira shook her head. "Everyone else was gone when they attacked."

 _So this was Phantom Lord's doing. They were the ones to blame for this!_

"The basement is alright,though. So we could stay there until the upstairs is repaired."

We went downstairs to find everyone's spirits broken.

No brawls or arguments.

No laughter.

Everything was quiet…..except for Natsu.

"Rargh! Those jerks are going to pay!" His fists lit up in flames ready for a fight.

"Natsu!" Said Makarov, "We can't pick a fight with Phantom Lord."

"And why not?! You saw what they did to our guild!"

"That's enough Natsu! I will hear no more of this!"

It just wasn't fair what Phantom did. Natsu was right.

They had to pay.

Why didn't gramps see it that way?!

"It's not fair!" I blurted out.

"Erica…" Began Makarov.

"How can you just let them get away with this?! They destroyed our guild! Our home! We can't just sit back and do nothing!"

"I understand your anger." He replied calmly. "But we can't fight Phantom. Not only would we get in trouble with the magic council, but they're just as strong as us. If not, stronger. It would cause more harm than good."

I stood there,blinking away my tears.

Fairy Tail was the best thing that's ever happened to me. I was able to make new friends. find family I didn't know I had. And it reunited me with Gray.

But to not be able to stand up for Fairy Tail?

It broke my heart.

I rested my hand on my left arm. Over my Fairy Tail emblem.

" _No way!" Said a boy with spiky pink hair. "So you're a Dragon Slayer too?!"_

 _I nodded my head. "Yup! Freena taught me."_

" _Freena?" Asked Gray, confused._

" _She was an Ice dragon….." I paused remembering how she left without so much as a goodbye. "...But she left 7 days ago."_

 _The pink haired boy's eyes grew wide in astonishment. "7 days ago? But that's when Igneel left!"_

" _That's freaky." Said Gray._

" _That's so cool!So you're a Dragon Slayer like Natsu." Said a girl with white hair and blue eyes like mine. "Hi. I'm Lisanna Strauss and this is my my sister Mirajane and my brother Elfman." She pointed to a 13 year old girl with white hair like her sister's and a boy about my age with white hair as well._

" _Did you say 'Strauss?'" I asked._

 _That name sounded so familiar._

" _Hey,"Said Gray. "Wasn't that your mom's last name?"_

 _That was right! My mom's name used to be Isabella Strauss before she married my dad._

 _Mirajane, who was wearing a purple tank top and shorts lifted an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting that I'm related to this wimp?"_

 _Ouch! That was cold!_

" _Don't be mean!" Her little sister scolded._

" _What's your mom's name?" Asked Elfman, curious._

" _Isabella."_

 _All three siblings froze, their eyes wide._

" _Isabella?But that's our aunt's name!" Said Lisanna exchanging glances with her brother and sister._

 _Gray's jaw dropped. "No way! Then that means you're their cousin!"_

" _Yeah right!" Mira scoffed, crossing her arms. "Our aunt died three years ago."_

 _My bangs hang over my face, shading my eyes. 'Deliora' I muttered._

 _Mirajane's eyes blinked furiously. "H-how did you?"_

" _You really are our cousin aren't you?" Said Lisanna._

" _It certainly looks like it." Said Gray._

 _Lisanna placed a hand on my shoulder and smiled sweetly. "Don't worry. We're your family now."_

Lisanna….

"Hey Erica. You alright?"

I was pulled from my thoughts by Happy's voice.

"You've been quiet for quite a long time."

"Yeah. I'm fine." I said shaking LIsanna out of my thoughts.

"Did you hear what I said?" Asked Erza.

"Uh,no sorry."

"I said, I think we should stick together tonight." She said clearly annoyed.

"You mean like a sleepover?"

Erza nodded. "We don't know if Phantom's going to attack so it's best if we all stay together. You know, strength in numbers."

"Yeah. We could stay at our place tonight."

"Huh?" Said Gray eyes wide. "N-now wait a minute! No way am I letting Pyro,here, into our apartment!"

"Say that to my face! Snowball!"

"Is there a problem boys?" Interrupted Erza.

"No ma'am!" Gary and Natsu said in unison.

She turned to me. "Yes.I think your place would suit quite nicely."

"Yeah. Natsu,Happy and Gray can stay in Gray's room and Me, you and Lucy can stay in my room."

"Perfect!We'll come by around 6."

"At least it's not at my house." Muttered Lucy.

When 6 o'clock came, Erza was the first to arrive.

She was carrying a large suitcase.

"Nice place you got here." She said looking around. "Now. Where should I put my overnight bag?"

"That's her overnight bag?!" Said Gray.

"Got a problem with it?" Said Erza accusingly.

"N-no! Not at all!"

And then Natsu….

"All right! Party!"

"Aye!" Chimed Happy.

"Honestly," Said Lucy coming up from behind them. "Could you be any louder?"

"Aw lighten up!" Said Natsu. "It's a sleepover!"

Natsu bent over Happy ear, attempting a whisper. "Hey Happy. Let's draw on Gray's face tonight while he's sleeping."

"Hey! I can hear you! You know!" Gray fumed.

"I think he's onto us!" Happy whispered back.

"I can still hear you."

"I think you two need lessons on how to whisper." Said Lucy.

Natsu turned to me. "Hey. So what's for dinner?I'm starving!"

"You're always hungry,Natsu." Said Gray.

"How does steak sound?"

I really hoped they wanted steak because I just spent 4 hours preparing it.

"Woohoo! Steak night!" Cheered Natsu.

"Yay! Steak!" Cried Happy.

"Looks like you got their approval." Said Lucy.

Dinner that night was like any other meal at the guild.

Loud.

"Food fight!" Cried Natsu preparing to throw his steak at Gray.

"No!" Shouted Gray. "No food fight! No food fight!"

I had just cleaned the carpet and I was not going to let Natsu ruin it. So I gave as best a death glare as I could muster.

Natsu's face paled.

He took a quick bite out of his steak and gave me a nervous thumbs up."Great steak." He said with a mouthful of steak and quickly sat back down.

After dinner, we all sat around in the living room, chatting until it was time for bed.

"Goodnight boys." Said Erza.

"Goodnight."They replied, as we all headed into our separate rooms.

Although my room was across the hallway from Gray's, we could still hear the guys in the other room.

"Hey!" Said Natsu. "Where's the marker at?"

"No way are you drawing on my face!" Shouted Gray.

"Did you take it?"

"No!"

"Liar!"

"I'm telling you, I didn't take the stupid marker!"

"Well if you didn't. Who did?"

With a victorious grin, I pulled the marker out of my pocket showing it to Erza and Lucy. " _We_ are drawing on _their_ faces tonight."

Lucy began to giggle maniacally. "That cat's gonna get it!"

Me and Erza gave her a questioning look.

"What?He keeps calling me fat!"

I shrugged my shoulders. "Fair enough."

Suddenly, there was a loud thud coming from the other room.

"Give me back my bed Natsu!" Shouted Gray.

I covered my mouth suppressing a laugh.

"No way man!"

"My apartment. My rules!"

"Yeah,well, I'm guest. Learn to share!"

All three of us burst out laughing.

"It seems like Gray's sleeping on the floor tonight." Joked Lucy.

"Shh!" Said Happy from the other room. "The girls are laughing!"

"I wonder what they're talking about!" Said Natsu intrigued.

"Let's go listen!"

I guess they didn't know that _we_ could here _them_ as well.

"Yeah!"

"We are not eavesdropping on the girls." Said Gray.

"Come on Gray. Haven't you ever wondered what girls talk about when we're not around?"

"No…..."

"They could be talking about you." Added Happy.

Silence.

" be quiet."

 _Too late._

The door to the boy's room creaked open and I heard the boys gather around the door.

I quickly began whispering instructions to Erza and Lucy.

I counted down from three on my fingers, then all of us began giggling.

"No way!" Said Erza. "You actually wear these?!"

We all sat on the floor talking loud enough for the guys to hear.

"Come on Erza. Don't search her dresser." Said Lucy.

"Hey," I said. "You know what would be really funny?If the boys were..."

I could hear their ears pressed up against the door.

I silently walked over to the other end of the room.

"... listening to us right now!"

I swung the door open and Natsu, Happy and Gray collapsed into the room.

"Dang it!" Said Happy. "Caught."

"Good going, Natsu!" Said Gray.

"You know we could hear you the whole time, right?" I said.

"Stupid walls." Muttered Gray.

"Get out." I said pointing to the door.

Natsu,Gray and Happy headed out into the hall.

I poked my head out the door. "Oh and by the way," I held up the marker. " _We have the marker."_

Their faces blanched and their eyes grew wide in terror.

"Goodnight." I waved my fingers at them and closed the door.


	11. Chapter 10 Ice Dragon VS Iron Dragon

The sound of screaming filled my ears. My eyes flew open and I jolted out of bed. Lucy and Erza sat up too.

"Did you hear that?" I said.

Lucy nodded. "What was that?"

"I don't know." Added Erza.

We all got up and ran out into the hall.

"What was that?" Said Gray emerging from his room with Natsu and Happy.

Gray had a mustache on his face as well as a marker unibrow.

"It sounded like a scream." Said Natsu. With whiskers and panda eyes drawn on his face.

"Do you think it was Phantom Lord?" Said Happy, who was sporting a marker mustache like Gray's.

Those boys sure were heavy sleepers.

"We should probably go check it out." I said turning to the door.

"No." Said Erza. "I think it would be best if we wait 'til morning."

"Huh?" Said Lucy. "But why?"

"If it is Phantom Lord, we'd stand no chance. At least not by ourselves."

Gray and Natsu exchanged glances and they burst out laughing.

"Nice kitty whiskers Natsu!"

"Well that's a pretty funny looking mustache Gray."

Happy began laughing as well. "That's what happens when you fall asleep!"

"I wouldn't be laughing if I were you." Said Lucy with a smug grin.

"Huh?" Happy rushed to the bathroom to have a look in the mirror.

"Aw! No fair!" He cried.

"You're welcome!" Lucy called to him from the hall.

Natsu and Gray rushed to have a look as well.

"A unibrow?!" Shouted Gray.

Erza nodded her head."Pretty good unibrow if I do say so myself."

"Aw man!" Cried Natsu. "I'm a panda!"

"That's what you get for eavesdropping." I said.

Lucy yawned. "Well, I'm going back to bed."

"Me too." Said Erza. "You should probably go back to bed as well Erica."

Erza and Lucy returned to the room and closed the door.

I lingered out in the hallway.

 _That scream._

 _Could it have been someone from the guild?_

 _Was it Cana or Levy?_

 _Or was it Mirajane?_

I couldn't let Phantom Lord get away this time.

No.

They had to be stopped.

And with that in mind, I swung the door open and ran outside in the direction the scream came from.

It came from the park.

Phantom was going to pay!

When I finally reached the park, I saw something that made my stomach lurch.

There, hung up on the tree, was Levy,Jet, and Droy. They were beaten and worn and the Phantom Lord emblem was painted above their heads.

I clenched my fists until my nails dug into my skin, drawing blood.

But I didn't care.

Phantom had gone too far!

Then, I heard chuckling as a man emerged from behind the tree. He had iron studs alongside his nose and eyebrows. He had long black hair and on his right shoulder was the Phantom Lord emblem.

"Like my decorations? Suits the place quite nicely." He gave an and evil grin.

He was a sicko! First he destroyed our guild, then he attacked our guild members!

I won't forgive him.

"But you know-" He was cut off when my fist came in contact with his face.

"Shut up!" I yelled.

"That's rude. I was talking you know! Maybe you should join your friends up there." He gestured to Levy,Jet and Droy. "Iron Dragon….Iron Fist!"

A metal rod extended from his hands and hit me in the stomach.

I was sent flying back, but I managed to land on my feet.

This man used Dragon Slayer magic like I did.

The Iron Dragon Slayer.

I've heard of him.

One of Phantom Lord's strongest members.

"Ice Dragon….Frozen Blast!" A blast of ice shot at the iron dragon slayer, but he blocked it with his iron rods.

"I know who you are." He said with a smirk. "To think. A weakling like you! A Dragon Slayer?! Ha! It's going to be fun beating you. Ice Dragon Erica."

No doubt about it. I was up against Black Steel Gajeel.

This was not going to be an easy fight.

Gray's POV:

I stepped out of the bathroom having finally washed all of the marker from my face. Natsu,however, still had his panda eyes. This was most likely Erica's doing. Pandas were her favorite animal.

Suddenly, the apartment door slammed shut. I looked out the window from the living room and saw Erica running down the street.

 _Could she be going after Phantom Lord?_

Then I remembered what she'd said earlier.

" _It's not fair!We can't just sit back and do nothing!"_

Natsu and Happy emerged from the bathroom. "What's the matter Gray?." Said Natsu. "Did you see something?"

I didn't reply. Instead, I rushed to the girls' room and knocked on the door frantically.

"Guys! It's Erica! She's gone after Phantom Lord!"

The door swung open and Erza came out fully dressed. "Then what are we waiting for?! Let's go after her!"

"Wait what?" Said Lucy confused.

"Erica can't fight Phantom all on her own."

"But this is Erica we're talking about,here."

"I don't doubt her strength. But judging by the circumstances, It's likely she'd be up against one of their strongest."

"What do you mean?"

"Due to the damage to the guild hall, It's safe to assume that the Iron Dragon Slayer was the one who destroyed the guild."

"Black Steel Gajeel." Said Natsu.

Erza nodded. "Chances are, If she's up against him, Their fight's going to end in a stalemate. In which case, both parties could end up seriously injured."

"Then what are we waiting for?!" Said Natsu. "Let's go!"

All 5 of us ran out the door and followed Erica.

I hoped she would be alright.

Erica's POV:

"Ice Dragon…..Frozen fist!" I gave Gajeel and uppercut punch. And he was knocked back.

I stood there, panting to catch my breath. I was getting worn out and my magic energy was quickly depleting.

 _Dammit! This isn't good. If only I could eat ice or something._

 _Would I have to retreat?_ I thought.

 _No!_

 _That was out of the question! I had to get revenge on Phantom Lord!_

 _Tired or not._

 _I will defeat Gajeel._

However, It seemed Gajeel caught on to my condition. "What's the matter Fairy?" He said with a smirk. "Tired so soon? That's no fun at all. Iron Dragon….Roar!" I was sent flying back and I landed on the ground face-first.

I tried to get up but I was too tired to fight anymore.

I had reached my limit.

Gajeel placed his foot on my shoulder. " Come on, Don't tell me you're giving up."

He kicked me in the side and I hit the tree.

"What happened to all that fight in ya a while ago?!"

I couldn't let myself be beaten so easily.

I had to get up and fight back!

I had to make him pay for what he did!

"Just shut up." I said getting to my feet.

Gajeel grinned. "Now that's more like it."

"Ice Dragon…...Roar!"

Gajeel flew several feet and landed with a thud.

 _I wasn't the only one who was low on magic energy._

Just then, I heard voices coming this way.

"Erica!"

It was Gray and the others rushing towards me with worried expressions.

"Are you alright?" Said Gray coming to my side.

"I'm fine." I said. "But-" I turned my attention back to Gajeel.

But he was gone.

"Dammit! He got away!"

Gray placed a hand on my shoulder. "It's alright. "Let's just head back."

I shrugged his hand off.

"No! It's not alright! Phantom Lord destroyed our guild! And look what they did to Levy,Jet and Droy!" I pointed to them with hot angry tears streaming down my face. "We can't just sit back and do nothing! We have to fight back!"

"I understand." Said Erza. "However, the best course of action for the moment would be to take these 3 to Magnolia Hospital and tell Makarov everything that's happened tonight and await his orders."

I nodded my head.

Erza was right.

They needed help.

By the time we got back to the guild, it was already light outside and everyone in Magnolia had heard about what happened

After we had told Makarov, he became enraged. Phantom Lord went too far.

It didn't take long for all of the guild members to assemble and head for the Phantom Lord guild and give them a piece of our minds.

This was war.


	12. Chapter 11 The War Begins

We burst into the Phantom Lord Guild with Makarov in the lead.

His eyes were a burning flame of hatred.

I had never seen him so angry before.

The guild erupted into chaos. We rushed at Phantom Lord full force. Spells flew in all directions, and people fell in defeat. Though mostly Phantom.

Makarov had left us to fight while he went off to find Jose, the Phantom Lord guild master.

I knocked all of the phantoms out of my way with a single roar.

All I cared about was finding Gajeel and finishing our duel.

I picked up one of the still conscious Phantoms by the collar of their shirt.

"Where Is Gajeel?" I hissed.

He began to sweat and his eyes grew wide in fear. He held his hands in front of his face.

"Please don't hurt me!" He whimpered.

"I'll ask again. Where….Is...Gajeel?"

My fist lit with a frozen blue light ass his shirt began to freeze under my grasp.

"I'm right here."

Gajeel jumped down from the ceiling and landed on his feet.

"Come to think of it," He said coming towards me. "We never did finish our fight. Did we?"

I released my hold on the fearful Phantom and he scampered away.

"You're not getting away this time." I said with a smirk.

"Don't get cocky. Iron Dragon…...Sword!"

His arm turned into a sword with revolving spikes and he sprinted straight for me.

"Ice Make…...Spear!" I materialized a spear of ice and blocked Gajeel's attack.

His eyes grew wide in surprise.

"What! B-but-Don't tell me you know two forms of magic?!"

I grinned.

I had caught him off guard.

Just what I needed.

I thrust my ice spear away and flipped into the air.

"Ice Dragon…. Frozen Fist!"

Gajeel had no room to dodge as my fist came down on his face and sent him flying through tables and pillars across the room and through the wall.

Gajeel's comrades stood there stunned at what they just saw.

"No way!" They said. "She took him down with one punch!"

"How strong is this girl?!"

I walked over to where Gajeel had landed and pointed my ice spear at his throat.

"Looks like I win." I said bitterly.

He managed a mischievous grin,even as his face was nothing but a big, purple bruise.

"I wouldn't be so sure."

"What?"

I was taken aback.

What was he talking about?

I had him at spear-point! He lost.

Unless…..

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud crash. I left Gajeel where he lay and rushed out into the main hall.

Erza was holding something in her arms but I couldn't make out what it was she was holding.

Then, I noticed it.

Master Makarov!

I ran over to Erza with a rather green looking Makarov in her arms.

I sensed no magic energy coming from him at all.

"Gramps.." I said horror struck.

It was impossible.

It couldn't be.

Makarov,defeated?!

 _There's no way!_ I thought. _There's no way Phantom Lord could have won!_

I began to shake.

But not out of fear.

Out of anger.

First the guild hall.

Then Levy,Jet and Droy.

And now Gramps.

They had to pay for all that they've done.

Gray's POV

I couldn't believe my eyes.

Gramps defeated?

It was impossible.

Suddenly, there was a strong release of magic energy.

Erica, who was standing next to Erza, was shaking uncontrollably. She was releasing high amounts of magic energy, her eyes filled with anger.

I had only seen her like this once before.

Back on Galuna island when we were fighting Leon. But this time, she was far more angry and she was stronger now.

Who knows how many mountains she could destroy with this much power.

"Stand down, Erica." Said Erza laying Gramps on the ground and getting to her feet.

Almost as if she were awoken from a trance, Erica seemed to calm down.

"What?"

"You heard me. I said stand down. We cannot fight with the way things are now. We must retreat."

"Retreat?!" I interrupted. "No way! We have to take down Phantom!"

Erza gave me a cold stare that froze me to the core.

"I said retreat and that is an order!"

I opened my mouth to protest but I thought against it.

 _Erza was right. There was no way we could win against Phantom Lord without Gramps. Not only that but our forces had already taken critical damage. Everyone was injured and low on magic power._

We had no choice but to withdraw.

Erza sounded the retreat and we all left with broken spirits.

Erica especially.

All that anger from before had changed to sadness and despair.

I felt the same way she did.

Helpless.

We tried to defend our guild but we were defeated.

We failed.

But I knew I had to be brave for Erica.

"Don't worry." I said.

"We'll get another chance to to beat their butts again. And when we do, they'll wish they'd never messed with Fairy Tail."

Erica gave me a sad smile.

"Yeah. I guess so."

When we got back to the guild, Bisca and Alzack had taken Makarov to Porlyusica's.

Everything was quiet just like yesterday.

A little too quiet.

Normally, Natsu would be yelling at Erza to continue the battle.

But he wasn't here, and neither was Happy or Lucy.

"Where's Natsu and Lucy?" I asked.

"Come to think of it,I haven't seen them since we left for the Phantom Lord guild." Said Erica.

"Me neither." Said Erza.

"Should we go look for them?"

"No, I'm sure they can take care of themselves. They'll return soon enough."

Just as Erza said, Natsu, Lucy and Happy returned a little while later. However,Lucy looked as if she'd been crying and Natsu looked enraged.

"What happened?" I asked.

"They kidnapped Lucy." Said Natsu with hatred in his voice.

Kidnapped?

Was this Phantom Lord's goal all along?

Kidnapping Lucy?

But why?

"Kidnapped?" Said Erica worried. "Is she alright?"

"She's fine." Said Happy. "She's just a little shaken up."

Lucy began to tear up.

"I'm sorry." She said. "This is all my fault."

"What are you talking about, Lucy?" I said.

I didn't see how any of this was her fault.

Lucy burst into sobs.

"Geez Gray, could you be any more insensitive?" Said Happy.

"Me?! What did I do?"

"My dad…" Began Lucy. "He….he paid them to bring me back to him."

Her dad? Lucy's never spoken about her family before.

"Why would your dad have to pay Phantom Lord?" I said. "If your dad wants you back home so much, why not go back and see him?"

Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain on my head.

"Ow!" I looked and saw Erica had her fist raised.

"What did I do?!"

"Get your foot out of your mouth, Gray." She said putting her fist down and turning her attention back to Lucy.

"I can't go back….." Lucy said. "You see...I….ran away."

That must be why she's never talked about her family before.

Lucy explained everything, about how her real name was Lucy Heartfilia, the daughter of one of Fiore's wealthiest families and how her dad hired Phantom Lord to take Lucy back to him.

"But why does your dad want you back now?" I asked.

I was probably going to get bopped on the head again but I asked anyway.

"That's what I'd like to know." She replied.

Suddenly, there was a sound like thunder and the ground began to shake.

"What's that?!" Said Erica turning her head towards the noise.

"It's coming from outside!" Said Erza running out the door.

We all followed after her.

"What the hell!" I cried.

There, standing in front of us was the Phantom Lord guild hall walking on large steel legs and a giant cannon pointed straight at us.

A man's voice rang through the air.

"This is master Jose speaking." He said in a somewhat calm voice. " We ask that you surrender Miss Lucy Heartfilia immediately and you and your guild may be spared."

Everyone erupted in anger.

"Rrgh! No way!" Shouted Erica. "We'd never give up one of our own to the likes of you!"

The whole guild chimed in agreement.

"If you want Lucy you'll have to go through us first!" I added.

"That can be arranged!" Said Jose's voice over the intercom.

Just then,the giant cannon began accumulating magic energy.

There was a female's voice speaking this time.

"Jupiter cannon firing in 10…...9…...8….."

"Everyone! Get back!" Shouted Erza.

"...6…...5…..4….."

Erza requiped into her adamantine armour and a large shield.

She was planning on blocking the cannon attack.

"Are you insane?!" I said. "That thing will kill you!"

"I don't care." She replied. "What matters is that everyone is safe."

"...3….."

Erza stood in front of the cannon readying her shield.

"...2….."

"Erza!" Shouted Natsu. "Don't do it!"

"...1."


	13. Chapter 12 The Element Four

Erica's POV:

Erza flew back, her adamantine armour shattered.

The Jupiter cannon blast had stopped.

Erza had succeeded. But she was badly injured.

Natsu rushed over to her. "She's out cold."He announced.

Jose's voice boomed over the intercom again.

"Your friend is strong. I'm surprised she's still in one piece. However, there is no way you fairies could survive another blast. You have 15 minutes to surrender Lucy Heartfilia or the Jupiter cannon will fire again."

He was right.

There was no way we could survive another blast from the Jupiter cannon.

It had already taken out one of our strongest, another blast would surely wipe out the entire guild.

"There has to be a way we can stop it." Said Cana.

The only way we could stop something like that would be to destroy it from the inside out.

And I think I know who could help me.

"Natsu," I said. "We have to get inside the Jupiter cannon and destroy the lacrima inside."

"Just what I wanted to hear." He said with his fist lit in flames.

"But how do we get inside?" Said Happy.

"Through the cannon itself." I said. "Do you think you could fly us up there, Happy?"

"Aye!" He wrapped his tail around my waist and grabbed onto Natsu's back.

"Wait." Said Gray handing me a shard of ice. "You'll need this."

"Thanks." I said as Happy flew me and Natsu up into the cannon.

The inside was a huge tunnel that stretched into the inside of the Phantom Lord guild.

"The lacrima cannon should be just down this tunnel."

I took a bite out of the ice Gray gave me.

"Aw man! You're eating?!" Wailed Natsu.

"Yeah, so what?" I said finishing off the ice.

"That's so not fair!"

I hadn't rested since the slumber party and that was only for a little while and I was low on magic energy. The ice should be enough to last long enough for us to destroy the Jupiter cannon.

We made our way down the tunnel and when we reached the end, there was a huge lacrima sitting in the middle of a circular room with someone standing guard.

He had black and white hair pulled into a ponytail and he wore a red and black suit.

He stared at us with with eyes.

" I am Totomaru of the element four, if you surrender Lucy Heartfilia, I will let you live." He said in a dull voice.

"Rrgh! No way buddy!" Said Natsu clenching his fist. "Fire Dragon…...Iron fist!"

He swung his flaming fist at Totomaru, however, he swiveled around and hit me instead.

I stumbled back in shock.

"It wasn't me Erica! I swear!"

"I control all flames, Salamander, if you try to attack me with your flames, I'll kill your little friend over there."

"That's playing dirty! Fire Dragon….."

"Natsu!" I cried. "You can't just attack without a strategy!"

"...Roar!"

Just as Totomaru said, Natsu's flames redirected at me.

But I was prepared.

"Ice make….Shield!"

Natsu's flames were blocked by my ice shield.

Then, I ran straight at Totomaru with my fists covered in ice.

"Ice Dragon…...Frozen Fist!"

I swung my fist at him, and just as I had anticipated, he dodged my attack.

Totomaru could only control ice. Meaning, he was vulnerable to my attacks which is why he dodged my Frozen Fist.

I just needed to keep him distracted long enough for Natsu to destroy the Jupiter cannon.

"Natsu!" I said. "Leave him to me and destroy that lacrima!"

"What?! How come you get to do all of the fighting?!" He complained.

"Just do as I say!"

Natsu opened his mouth to protest, but quickly shut it again.

He nodded his head and turned his attention towards the lacrima behind Totomaru.

"I told you." He said. "I control all flames! If you use your fire magic, I'll just redirect it back at her!"

I prepared myself for a breath attack.

"Ice Dragon….Oof!"

Natsu punched me in the gut with his Fire Dragon Iron Fist.

I stumbled onto my knees holding the spot where Natsu hit me. I covered the burn with my ice.

Natsu waved his hands in front of his face. "I'm sorry! It wasn't me!"

"Don't go until I tell you to!" I said getting back onto my feet.

"Ice Dragon…...Wing attack!"

Totomaru was knocked back giving Natu an opening.

"Now Natsu!"

"Right! Fire Dragon…."

Totomaru raised his hands to control his flames again.

But I was faster.

"Ice Dragon Frozen Blast!"

His hands were pinned down to the floor frozen solid.

"...Roar!"

The giant lacrima was no match for Natsu's flames as it shattered into a million pieces.

"No!" Shouted Totomaru. "You fairies will pay for this!"

"Geeze. Shut up, will you?" I said freezing his mouth shut.

His eyes grew wide as he struggled to break free of the ice. He moved his lips to speak but all that I could make out was angry grunts.

Just then, I heard footsteps coming this way.

"Erica! Natsu!"

Gray and Elfman came in running.

"Are you guys alright?" Asked Gray.

"Yeah," I said. "We're fine. We just finished taking out the jupiter cannon."

"So, who's this dude?" Elfman pointed to Totomaru who was still struggling to break free.

"Totomaru of the Element Four, Phantom Lord's elite team."

"I see...So then, there's just three left."

Jose's voice came in on the intercom again.

"Oh well done Fairy Tail! I see you've managed to stop my Jupiter cannon and you have taken out one of my Element Four. However, I am a man with many tricks up my sleeve. Hand over Lucy Heartfilia or your guild will be obliterated!"

"I've told you before and I'll say it again!" I yelled. "We'll never surrender Lucy!"

"Have it your way,then. You leave me no choice!"

Everything began to shake and the whole guild started turning on its side.

My stomach churned and it was all I could do not to throw up.

 _Not my motion sickness again!_

My knees buckled and I was about to fall when Gray took ahold of my shoulders, keeping me upright.

"Aw man! I think I'm going to puke!" Said Natsu with his cheeks puffed up.

"Man up, Natsu!" Said Elfman.

"I can't...Blergh!...Help it!"

Just as quickly as it started, the shaking stopped.

As soon as I regained my balance, Gray released my shoulders, but my knees were still shaking a little bit.

"You okay?" He asked.

I nodded my head. "Yeah."

"Hey guys!" Said Elfman looking out of a large window. "You better come look at this!"

"What is it?" I asked walking over to him.

I looked out the window and my eyes grew wide in shock.

"What is that thing?!"

Outside the window, I could see a giant arm drawing a magic circle.

"It's like this whole place is a robot." Said Gray.

"As you can see," Said Jose over the speakers. "My...robot...as you call it, is casting the spell Abyss Break, and when the magic circle is complete…..Fairy Tail will be wiped from the face of the Earth!" He began laughing maniacally. "Good luck….Fairy Tail!"

 _So this was Jose's next move._ I thought. _When Abyss Break is cast, we were in trouble._

"As if _this_ wasn't bad enough!" Elfman exclaimed.

"Bad enough?" I asked. "What do you mean?"

"See for yourself." Gray said, pointing to the guild down below.

Black phantom-like creatures floated around the guild as our guild members tried to fight them off.

"What are they?"

"I'm not sure, but they keep coming back every time we defeat them."

Not only was there the threat of the magic circle, but these phantoms were attacking our guild members as well. If we couldn't stop Phantom Lord soon, our guild would be destroyed.

"How do we beat these guys?" Asked Elfman.

"I think I might have an idea." I said. "Master Jose is the one controlling this whole thing. If we could somehow find him and defeat him, we would stop Phantom all together."

"But how would we find him?" Said Gray. "This place is huge and it's only a matter of time before Abyss Break is cast."

"We should split up."

We would just have to hope that one of us would be able to find Master Jose and beat him.

The only problem was, I was the only one in this group strong enough to take him on. Sure, Natsu was Dragon Slayer. But I'm much stronger than him, and right now, I was still low on magic energy and that burn Natsu gave me didn't help any.

Not to mention the fact that there was still the rest of the Element Four somewhere around here guarding it top to bottom.

The odds were not in our favor.

If only Erza were here we might have a winning chance. But seeing as she was knocked out from the first Jupiter cannon blast, that wasn't going to happen.

"We should also keep an eye out for the Element Four. They could be anywhere." I said.

"Then what are we standing around here for?" Said Natsu, "Let's go!"

With that, we all ran in our separate directions.

I ran towards the West wing of the guild.

It didn't take me long to come to the realization that this place was nothing more than a huge labyrinth.

Every time I turned a corner, I reached a dead end. And when I would turn around and go another way, that eventually became a dead end too.

After several minutes of wandering aimlessly around the halls, I came to a door at the end of a hallway.

 _Maybe Jose was in there._

I was about to open the door when I heard footsteps coming this way.

I turned to see Gray coming down the hallway.

"Man!" He said coming to my side. "This place is like a maze! I can't find anything here."

But I wasn't listening to him because, at that moment, I heard what sounded like rain pouring from up above.

I looked outside a closeby window.

but it was sunny.

Not a drop in sight.

"What's the matter?" Gray asked.

"I hear rain."

I looked up at the ceiling that had a row of skylights.

 _Skylights. That meant that the door lead to the roof._

"Rain? But it's completely dry outside." Gray said looking out the window.

"The roof!" I said dashing through the door.

 _The four elements, Fire, water, earth, and air. The Element Four represented those elements._

 _We had just defeated Totomaru, the fire element and the rain must be because of the water element._

 _And they were on the roof._

"Hey! Wait up!" Said Gray running after me.

I ran up the stairs and burst through the door onto the roof. It was raining like crazy and I felt an overwhelming sense of gloom wash over me.

Gray caught up to my side panting.

"Geez, you're fast! Haah,haah….Why are we on the roof?"

His question was answered when a woman with long blue hair and blue eyes came into view, carrying pink umbrella.

"Drip,drip,drop. I am Juvia the rain woman and who might you be?" She said.

Neither me nor Gray said a word.

I just stared at her with cold eyes.

She was definitely one of The Element Four and she was going down.

"How rude. I asked you a question, yet you refused to answer. No matter, there is no way you could beat us. So I ask that-"

Her gaze suddenly shifted from me to Gray and her face turned red.

"...I give up, you win."

She turned away quickly and began to walk away.

"That was quick!" Said Gray.

"Hey! You get back here!"

 _I saw that look in her eyes when she looked at Gray._

 _It was lust._

My fist came in contact with her face and she fell to the ground.

She got back up and faced me with no trace of emotion left on her face. Juvia held her hand out in front of her.

"Water lock!"

I was suddenly engulfed inside a bubble of water and I could feel the air escaping my lungs.

"Erica!" Gray turned to Juvia. "Let her go!"

I couldn't move a muscle. I tried to freeze the water around me but I was too low on magic power.

It was no use.

"I will let her go when you surrender Lucy Heartfilia." She replied.

"No way! I would never give up one of my guild members!"

My chest began to ache and it felt like my lungs were closing in. I was running out of air.

"So you would let your friend die then?"

"I'd never let that happen!"

Gray spun around and froze the water. The ice shattered and I dropped to my knees coughing and gasping for air.

He rushed to my side and knelt down next to me.

"Here, take this."

He gave me another chunk of ice and I took it gratefully.

"Thanks, Gray."

I let the ice melt on my tongue as I chewed.

"You alright?"

I nodded my head. "Yeah, I'm fine now." I said getting to my feet and turned my attention back to Juvia who looked like she was having some sort of spaz attack.

"It can't be….he loves her!...Never let her die!"

"What's her problem?"Asked Gray pointing to Juvia.

"This girl's crazy!" I said.

"How can fate be so cruel?!" She wailed. "Erica's my rival…..Erica's my rival…..I WILL DESTROY HER!"

She shot a rush of water at me. Only this time, it was scalding hot.

The ice I had over the burn wound from Natsu's punch melted and the hot water made it feel like my skin was on fire.

My eyes watered and I gritted my teeth.

"Ice Dragon….Roar!"

The hot water froze and jumped back as I put another layer of ice over the burn.

"If you've got a problem with me, say it to my face!" I fumed.

"You will never understand the power of love!" She cried.

I looked to Gray who looked utterly confused.

"Water Slicer!" Juvia cried.

I leaped up into the air, dodging her attack.

"So that's what this is about?!" I said.

Juvia was obviously one of those crush girls, like the demon girls back on Galuna Island.

I couldn't wait to destroy her.

No one goes after _My_ man!

"Why? Are you jealous?" She replied cooly.

"No. Just territorial. Ice Dragon….Wing Attack!"

Juvia stood completely still, as if she weren't afraid of my attack.

"What?!"

I couldn't believe my eyes!

My wing attack went straight through her like she was a ghost or something.

"Why didn't it work?"

Juvia gave a smirk.

"My body is made up of 100 percent water. Your attacks don't faze me."

"Let me try!" Said Gray. "Ice make…...Lacer!"

His spell went straight through Juvia just like my spell had.

"What the heck?!"

"I told you, you're attacks can't hurt me."

Juvia raised her hand into the air which dissolved into a raging gush of water headed straight for us.

"Be burned by my jealous rage!"

"What the heck is she talking abou-"

Me and Gray were engulfed by the boiling water that burned my skin red. It was all I could do not to cry out in pain.

I held my hands out in front of me, summoning up as much magic power as I could to freeze the water.

"Frozen Fist!" I gurgled through the water, which made my throat burn.

It worked.

Me and Gray were free.

I stood there panting to catch my breath.

I was already feeling tired and spent. I guess the effects of the ice I ate were starting to wear off.

But I quickly pushed my exhaustion away.

I had to keep fighting.

I couldn't rest until Fairy Tail was safe from Phantom Lord.

I held my arm out to the side, "Ice Dragon…...Frozen Scales!"

My arm sliced through the air horizontally as icy dragonscales shot from my hand.

But they weren't regular dragonscales. These scales could penetrate through anything and freeze it from the inside out.

Even water.

Juvia was pelted with the dragon scales that left her skin covered with icy patches all over her body.

"What is this?!" She cried trying to shake them off. "Water slicer!"

Nothing happened.

"Water lock!" Juvia cried in frustration. "What did you do to me?!"

"I froze all of the water inside your body. Your magic is useless."

I held my hand up to the sky. "But that's not all my spell can do."

I flicked my wrist and all of the ice patches exploded.

Juvia screamed and fell with a thud.

I walked over to Juvia who was still conscious.

"Go ahead." She said. "Finish me."

I shook my head.

"I'm not going to do that. No matter how much I want to. The battle is over. You lost. That's all there is to it."

"No. You won, you're supposed to kill me."

"That may be the way you Phantoms do things around here," Said Gray. "But Fairy Tail isn't like that."

"But…..I'm your enemy."

"Just because we're enemies, doesn't give us the right to take each other's lives." I said.

Juvia gave a look of disbelief.

Then, she gave a small smile.

"I guess Fairy Tail isn't so bad after all."

Just then, the rain stopped and all of the clouds in the sky blew away, revealing a clear blue sky.


	14. Chapter 13 Makarov's Wrath

"Erica!Gray!"

It was Mirajane's voice.

But that couldn't be right.

She was with Fairy Tail fighting the phantoms.

I turned to see Elfman and Mira running towards us.

"Mira?" I said. "What are you doing here?"

"No time for that." Said Elfman.

"We've been looking for you." Mira added. "We figured it out!How to stop Abyss Break!"

"really?" Said Gray. "How?"

"We have to defeat the Element Four. The spell is being powered by the four elements, so the only way to stop Abyss Break is to beat everyone in the Element Four."

"Is that one of them?" Asked Elfman, pointing to Juvia who was passed out.

"Yeah." I said.

"Then that just leaves one more."

"One more?What happened to the third one?"

"Oh, Sol? I defeated him." He replied with a broad grin.

"That just leaves us with Aria, the air element." Said Mirajane. "He's the one who took away master's magic power."

"What?!" Said Gray. "He's the one who took down gramps?!"

Mira nodded. "He's the strongest of the four."

"Do you know where he is?" I asked.

Mira shook her head.

"No. But since we beat three of the four elements, that bought us some more time to find him."

I looked at the giant magic circle.

It was moving much slower than before.

I turned back to Mira.

"Then let's get going."

We took off through the door.

Elfman beat Sol, the earth element, and me and Gray Defeated Juvia.

Which left Natsu to face off with Aria, the air element.

I hoped he would be alright.

We made our way through the maze that was the Phantom Lord guild.

We reached what seemed to like a throne room and there was Aria, lying unconscious on the ground and Erza sitting up against a pillar looking beaten and worn.

"Erza?!" I said as we rushed to her. "Did you take him out all on your own?!"

Erza nodded.

Even after being hit full-force by the Jupiter cannon, she still managed to defeat one of the Element Four!

"Are you alright?" Asked Mira.

"I've been better. But I had help from Natsu."

"Natsu?" I asked. "Where is he?"

I scanned the room to see if he was there.

"He went off to find Gajeel."

"What! You gotta be kidding me! I called dibs on beating his sorry ass!" I fumed.

"Well, you see, the word is they captured Lucy again, so Natsu went after Gajeel. But don't worry, I sure he has everything under control."

"So then that just leaves us to find Jose then."

Erza shook her head. "Jose is one of the 10 wizard saints. He's too strong. Even for you or me. If only we had master here, we could defeat him."

"But what other choice do we have?"

Beating Jose was the only way to take Phantom Lord down.

"Indeed, Fairy Tail. What other choice _do_ you have?"

Jose walked in from the door on the other side of the room.

"I applaud you on your performance. You took out my Jupiter cannon, stopped my Abyss Break spell, and even defeated my Element Four. But I assure you, you will not come out alive."

"We'll just see about that!" I said running straight at him. "Ice Dragon….."

"No, Erica! Don't!" Cried Erza.

I leaped into the air.

"...Wing Attack!"

"Dark Wave!"

Before my attack could reach him, I was thrown back by a black and purple wave of magic energy.

Gray, Mira and Elfman were knocked back by the spell as well.

When I came in contact with the ground, it felt like all gravity was centered on me. Pinning me to the ground.

I tried to stand back up, but I had no strength left in me. It was like the spell was draining me of my energy.

I lifted my head up as far as I could.

Erza requipped into her her Black Wing armour.

"You'll pay for this!" She cried swinging her sword again and again, but Jose kept dodging.

I began to feel my eyes droop as everything began turning black.

I tried to fight it but eventually, I was out.

When I awoke, there was an eerie silence.

Then Jose's voice echoed through in my head.

"It's over Titania Erza. I won. Prepare to die!"

 _No way!_ I thought.

 _Erza lost?_

I couldn't let my friend die at the hands of scum like Phantom Lord.

I lifted my head, which felt like it weighed a ton.

There, in front of me, was Jose wearing a prideful grin and Erza who was suspended in the air by black skulls bruised and beaten.

"Goodbye! Queen of the Fairies!" He cried.

I mustered up all the strength I could to stand.

My knees shook and it felt like I'd fall to the floor again.

But I kept my feet steady.

"Not…..today…...Ice Dragon…...ROOOAAARRR!"

I summoned up all of my magic energy into that one roar.

My ice consumed Master Jose.

The black skulls disappeared and Erza fell to her knees.

"My,my. How persistent."

The ice surrounding Jose dispersed.

He stood in front of me, the whites of his eyes black and menacing.

"It's getting quite bothersome."

He held two pitch black orbs of magic energy in his hands.

"I've got a special punishment for you, Ice Dragon! Say hello to your worst nightmares!"

He joined the two black orbs together as the made one giant black hole.

"Dream of Death!"

A rush of darkness fell over me.

Everything was black.

I couldn't see anything.

And all I could feel was pain.

Excruciating pain and fear.

The sound of screaming filled my ears.

A scream filled with agony.

Was it Mirajane's?

Or Erza's?

No.

It was mine.

The pain was sheer torture.

Like I was being stabbed with a thousand knives.

Then everything began to fade.

Gray's POV

Agonized screaming filled the air.

They were Erica's.

And I couldn't do a thing to help her.

I was pinned down to the floor by Jose's spell.

I had woken up in time to see Erica being consumed in darkness.

I cursed myself for not being able to help her.

The air around me grew fearful and cold.

The screaming soon stopped and the dark magic energy was absorbed into Erica's chest and she fell limp.

"Erica!" I cried trying to stand back up, but falling down again.

I hit my fist on the ground in frustration.

"Dammit!"

Jose began laughing maniacally.

"This is your dragon slayer?! Pathetic! And you call yourselves wizards?! I shall have no problem killing all of you Fairies!"

Erza stood with her sword raised.

"You monster!"

"Flattery will get you nowhere, Titania!Perhaps you would like to join your little dragon friend?"

Suddenly, the cold, fearful air was replaced by a warm light.

It seemed so familiar, but I couldn't quite place what it was.

"That's enough Jose!"

 _That voice!_

It was gramps!

Gramps emerged into the room.

He was no longer green and there was so much magic energy pouring from him.

"master!" Said Erza relieved.

"Well if it isn't Fairy Tail's master. Makarov, you're looking well."

"Spare the niceties!You have caused enough damage! You have two choices Jose. You can either walk away quietly with no more bloodshed or face my wrath!"

"Now why would I want to chose either of those? How about a third choice. I stay right here and kill all of your precious children one by one."

"So you've made your choice."

"Indeed I have."

Makarov turned to Erza.

"Erza. take the others and get out of here. It's about to get ugly."

"Yes, master."

Erza came over to me and helped me to my feet.

I went over to Erica and scooped her into my arms.

Erza helped up Mirajane and Elfman and we all made our way out of the Phantom Lord guild.

When we found our way outside, there was a brilliant light that shone from where Gramps and Jose were fighting head to head.

"Gray?"

I looked down and saw Erica's ice blues eyes staring back at me.

She was awake.

I breathed a sigh of relief. She was alright.

Erica shielded her eyes from the bright light. "What's going on?"

"Gramps. He's fighting Jose right now."

"Matser?! He's here?"

She stared at the light which was growing bigger and brighter.

She smiled ear to ear.

"Phantom Lord stands no chance now."

Just then, the light became blindingly white that washed over everything.

It was so bright I had to shield my eyes.

The light vanished, and there stood the Phantom Lord guild in ruins and the black phantom disappeared.

The air was filled with victorious cheers.

Phantom Lord was defeated.

Fairy Tail had won.

"Just goes to show, you don't mess with Fairy Tail." I said.

"I've never seen him use that spell before." Said Erica.

"Huh?" I said. "What spell?"

"Fairy Law. A spell that vanquishes the caster's enemy.A spell created by one of our founders."

Erza nodded. "It really is a brilliant spell."

 _Wow!_ I thought. _With a spell like that, Gramps was a force to be reckoned with._

Makarov soon emerged from the ruins and threw his fist into the air in victory.

"Phantom Lord has fallen! Fairy Tail is victorious!"

Everyone erupted into cheers.

The war was won.


	15. Chapter 14 Chaos in Onibas

Erica's POV

After the war with Phantom Lord ended and everything had died down, our victory was short lived.

The guild hall had been completely demolished during the battle. So there was the matter of repairing it which would take weeks to rebuild.

And then there was the magic council who were none too pleased about the conflict between guilds.

Luckily, there was no evidence against Fairy Tail. But we were still charged for property damage.

To be fair, though, Phantom Lord destroyed our guild first.

A few days later, we began reconstructing the guild hall.

Everyone chipped in. Including Makarov.

Lucy, however, had to stay home because she was still recovering from her injuries.

I was still sore myself.

There was a mysterious pain in my chest, which was most likely from Jose's 'Dream of Death' spell. I had thought that it would have been gone by now,but it just kept getting worse.

But I quickly shoved it aside and worked on the guild like everyone else.

I didn't tell anyone about the pain, though.

Not even Gray.

I didn't want to have anybody worried. Especially after the incident with Phantom.

"hey, Erica." Said Natsu coming up to me.

I put down the saw I was using to cut a wooden plank.

"Yeah?"

"You know that Iron Dragon Slayer, Gajeel?"

"Yeah, what about him?"

If Natsu was going to brag one more time about beating Gajeel, I'd punch him in the face.

Again.

"He was raised by a dragon too!"

"I figured as much."

Since me and Natsu were raised by dragons, I'd figured that Gajeel was trained by one as well.

I guess I was right.

"That's not all. His dragon left on the same day Igneel and Freena left."

This piqued my interest.

Me,Natsu, and Gajeel were trained by dragons, and they all left on the exact same day.

July 7 X777.

There was no way that could be a coincidence.

There had to be a clue as to why they all left, right?

"Really?Did Gajeel say where his dragon went?"

"No."

"OW! What the hell?!"

We were suddenly interrupted by Gray.

"What is it?" I asked walking over to Gray who was rubbing his head.

"ah...something just hit me in the head."

I looked down and saw a pink lunch box that smelled like tap water.

Juvia.

Gray noticed it too and picked it up.

"What's this?"

He opened the lid revealing 3 rice balls in the shape of a heart.

"Did you make this?" He asked turning to me.

I shook my head.

Gray shrugged his shoulders and was about to take a bite.

"Don't eat that!"

I immediately kicked the lunch box out of his hands and into the air.

 _I'm the only one who gets to make Gray's lunches around here._

 _Not Juvia!_

There was a _Splat!_

"Kyaa!"

The rice balls landed behind a pile of wood, and I was pretty sure that scream was Juvia's

Erica 2.

Juvia 0.

"What did you do that for?" Said Gray.

"You can't eat food off of the ground."

"It was in a box."

Natsu began rolling on the ground laughing.

"Aw man! I'd hate to be the sucker that got hit with that!

"Natsu…"

Erza appeared behind him. Arms crossed.

Natsu began trembling and sweating.

"Y-yes ma'am?"

"No more lollygagging. Get back to work!"

"Y-yes ma'am!" And he scrambled away.

A few days later, Fairy Tail began taking jobs again as soon as the first floor was done.

Apparently, they were going for a whole new design.

"How about this one?" Said Lucy holding up a job flyer for catching a group of bandits.

"Yeah," I said. "Easy enough."

"And it's 600,000J." Said Gray. "Not bad for a bandit job."

"Or how about this one?" Said Erza holding up another flyer.

Natsu read it out loud.

"I have no actors for my play. My play is ruined. thank you so very much. For 300,000J."

"I don't know,Erza." I said. "An acting job?The bandit job is just as easy, and it pays more."

Erza's eyes began to water and she pouted her lips.

"Crap!" Said Gray. "Not the puppy dog face!"

"Since when does she use the puppy dog face?" Said Lucy.

I shrugged my shoulders. "I guess if she really wants the job."

There was a poof.

Erza had requiped…...into a dog costume.

She, then, started wagging her tail.

 _Just how weird could she get?_

"Nope!" Said Natsu. "We're taking the bandit job."

Erza quit wagging her tail and she requiped back into her armour.

"We are taking this job whether you like it or not!"

"EEP!"

"That was a quick change of mood." Said Lucy.

"Natsu," Said Gray. "Let's just take the acting job so Erza won't kill us."

"A-aye." Said Natsu shaking.

Erza took the bandit flyer from Lucy's hands and taped it back onto the request board.

Nab, who was standing by the request board took the bandit flyer.

"hey! Cool!" He said. "A bandit job! Thanks Erza!" And he ran off with the flyer.

"Well that's new." Said Gray.

"Yeah no kidding," I said. "He never takes a job."

"Hey!You get back here with that!" Cried Natsu running after Nab. "That's our 600,000J!"

"Natsu!" Erza grabbed onto the back of Natsu's scarf. "Just what do you think you're doing?"

"N-nothing…. m-ma'am!"

Erza released Natsu.

"We leave in 10 minutes." And she walked off with the flyer singing, "Kah-Kay-Eee-oo-ah-oo!"

Natsu ran behind Lucy and watched Erza walk away.

"She's the devil!" He whispered.

"Natsu," Said Lucy. "What are you doing?"

"That's not very manly, Natsu!Hiding behind a girl!" Said Elfman.

"Shut up!"Cried Natsu from behind Lucy.

"Natsu, if this is your way of asking her out, it's not working." Said Macao.

"They're in loooove!" Teased Happy.

"Shut up! Happy!" Said Natsu and Lucy in unison.

"Stop copying me!" They said.

"We are not together!"

"I'm not going out with you." Said Lucy.

"Good. 'cause, neither am I." Replied Natsu.

There was a moment's pause.

"Wanna go out?"

"No!" Lucy kicked him in the face.

Natsu lay on ground twitching.

"I was…..only joking."

"Geeze. Talk about harsh." Said Macao.

"Poor Natsu." Said Wakaba. "Rejected _and_ a kick in the face."

"You didn't have to be so mean about it." Said Happy.

"Who asked your opinion?" Said Lucy.

Erza came back a couple of minutes later. "All right, let's get going."

We took the train to Onibas where our client was.

I didn't enjoy the train ride at all.

I layed on Gray's lap trying not puke as he gently stroked my hair.

"Ugh!...Did we really have to take the train?" I said.

"I'm with Erica on this one…...Blergh!...couldn't we have just walked or something?" Said Natsu who was hanging out the open window.

"It's faster this way." Said Erza.

"I know…." I said. "I just…..really hate trains…"

When we reached Onibas station, we made our way to the theater house a few blocks away.

It had been a while since we'd been to Onibas, during the whole Lullaby flute fiasco.

"This place sure does bring back memories." Said Erza lugging her giant wagon of...junk behind her.

"Those Eisenwald guys sure gave us a heck of a lot of trouble." Said Gray.

"Um, Erza?" Said Lucy. "Do we really need all of this stuff?"

"Of course." She replied. "You never know what you'll need."

"It's just a play Erza." I said. "We don't need….. a bull whip?"

I pulled out a bull whip from the carriage.

"It's a prop." Erza took the whip out of my hands and threw it back into the pile.

When we reached the theatre house,a short man with purple hair and a mustache greeted us.

"Are you wizards from Fairy Tail?" He asked in a small voice.

I nodded my head. "We're here for the acting job."

The short man looked at me as if studying me.

"Yes!" He said suddenly. "You'll be perfect for the leading role! The hair! The eyes! Simply perfect!Thank you so very much!"

"The lead what now?" I said raising an eyebrow.

"Come with me." He said grabbing me by the arm.

"hey!" Said Gray. "Keep your hands to yourself, buddy!"

The client released my arm and walked over to Gray and stared at him.

There was a long, awkward, silence.

 _This guy was seriously creepy._

"You'd be perfect for the leading male! A young prince willing to save his princess by any means necessary! Thank you so very much!"

The color drained from everybody's face.

"Is this guy for real?" Said Lucy.

"No more idling by!" Said the client. "We must start the rehearsals immediately!"

"Um, excuse me, sir?" Said Erza. "What part will I play?"

The client looked at her with disinterest.

"Hmmmm…...You'll be her understudy."

Erza turned to me. Her eyes were like burning flames.

 _Great. Now she's mad at me._

 _I really hope she wouldn't try to kill me. She wouldn't do anything like that._

 _Right?_

The client lead us inside the theater house and we were brought to a dressing room.

"And here is the dressing room. This is Juvia. She'll be your co-star." He said to me.

And there was Juvia sitting in the room.

Her eyes lit up at the sight of Gray, but her expression quickly changed to contempt when she noticed me.

"Erica." She said with bitter distaste.

"Juvia." I said coldly.

"Um, do you two know each other?" Said Lucy.

"Unfortunately." I growled.

The client began backing away slowly. "I'll just leave you guys alone now…"

And he was gone in a flash.

"hey. Said Gray. "Aren't you that Phantom Lord girl?"

Juvia nodded her head, her cheeks red.

"I was, until the guild got disbanded because _Someone_ destroyed our guild." She stared at me as she said this.

"Only after _You_ demolished ours!" I said back.

"You looking for a fight? Ice brains?" Juvia stood up facing me.

"Bring it on, wet head!"

Me and Juvia butted heads.

"Those two remind me of someone else I know." Said Lucy looking at Natsu and Gray.

"Why are you looking at me?!" Said Natsu. "They haven't even started throwing punches yet!"

"It took me three days to wash out my hair thanks to you!" Said Juvia.

"I'm not the one trying to steal someone else's boyfriend!"

"Why you…!"

Juvia began clawing at me and I clawed back.

"Bimbo!" Juvia cried.

"Tramp!" I cried back.

"You spoke too soon." Said Gray.

"break it up you two!" Said Erza pulling us apart.

"Shut up!"

Me and Juvia punched Erza in the face and we continued to claw and scratch at each other.

"I said...break...it...UP!"

Erza bopped us on the head.

"She started it!" I said pointing to Juvia.

"no. You started it!" Said Juvia pointing to me.

"Grrrrr!"

"That's enough you two!We've got a lot of work to do so no more wasting time!Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Good. Now, let's get to work."

We spent the rest of the day preparing for the show.

Since Erza was my understudy, she was in charge of set and costume design.

The rest of us rehearsed our lines.

Natsu played the role of King Ferdinand, prince Stephen's father, who would be played by Gray. And Lucy would be playing the role of Queen Caroline, the mother of Princess rose, my character.

And Juvia was supposed to be playing the role of the evil witch. A role that I think suited her quite well.

When it came time for the play, several people from the guild came by to watch the performance. As well as some of the people from the now-disbanded-guild Phantom Lord.

The play itself wasn't very good.

The whole script and the entire plot was terrible.

I could see why the client's actors walked out on him.

The whole audience was half asleep until the fight scene with me, Gray, and Juvia.

"your reign of terror ends now witch!" Cried Gray holding a foam sword.

"Or is it?" Said Juvia, holding a fake wand.

She pointed the wand at me.

"Be a shame if something were to happen to your dear princess, Prince Stephen."

"Finally, this play's getting good." Said Gajeel from the audience.

"SSSHHH!"

"Alright,alright! Sheesh!"

"Run prince Stephen!" I said. " Save yourself!"

"No! I will not leave you!" Said Gray as he made his way towards me.

"Don't move! Or else!" Said Juvia.

"Or else,what?"

"This!"

Juvia waved her fake wand at me.

That was supposed to be my cue to dodge, but that all too familiar pain in my chest returned. And it was much stronger this time.

I doubled over,clutching my chest, trying not to scream.

Gray and Juvia stood there for a moment, eyes wide. Unsure what to do.

Should they continue the play?

Or help me?

Or had I simply forgotten what to do?

Improvising, Gray said, "What did you do?!"

Dumbstruck, Juvia held her wand as if she was afraid of it.

"I….uh….I poisoned her. Yeah! that's it!...I poisoned your dear Rose!"

Gray ran over to me and knelt down beside me and muttered under his breath for only me to hear.

'Are you alright?'

Just then, the pain left as quickly as it came. But I quickly played it off.

'I'm fine.' I whispered back. 'I forgot what to do.'

Gray's face turned red in embarrassment.

'oh.'

He then stood up and helped me to my feet.

The crowd muttered in confusion.

"Wasn't she just poisoned?!"

"Why is she standing?!"

"How do you poison someone with a wand?!"

Me and Gray faced Juvia.

I quickly made an ice sword.

"This ends now witch!"

"When did she get ice powers?!" Said someone from the crowd.

"This makes no sense!"

"Why is the damsel in distress fighting?!"

Me and Gray ran towards Juvia with our swords raised.

"Nooooooo!" Juvia cried falling over.

There was more confusion amongst the crowd.

"They didn't even hit her!"

"It must be telekinesis!"

I stood over Juvia.

'Little too early.' I whispered to her.

'The swords made me nervous!' Said Juvia.

I turned to Gray.

"You saved me."

"Uhh?You saved yourself!" Said Gajeel.

"c'est tres confusing!" Said Sol.

"Not yet." Said Gray leaning in for a kiss.

"What do you mean?! You defeated the witch!" Said Makarov.

"Aw! How cute!" Said Mirajane.

Just when our noses were inches apart….

"Gray belongs to me!" Said Juvia jumping in between me and Gray as her lips touched his.

I pulled Juvia away from Gray by the collar of her dress.

Gray stood there wiping off his lips.

"Bleh,bleh,bleh! What the heck?! Bleh, bleh,bleh."

"You kissed my boyfriend! You're gonna pay water witch!"

"Gray doesn't like my kiss!" Bawled Juvia.

"I'll give you something to cry about!" I said punching her in the face.

Juvia punched back and we began pummeling each other.

"Bleh!Bleh!Bleh!" Gray kept wiping off his lips.

Natsu came on stage laughing. "Ha ha ha! You look like an idiot!"

"Shut up! Like you're one to talk!" Said Gray.

"You can't tell me what to do! I'm the king!"

"You're not the king,Natsu! It's just a play!"

"oh,yeah? Tell that to the crown!" Natsu pointed to the crown on his head.

"Looks more like a tiara to me!" Said Gray.

"Rrgg!Jerk!"

Natsu and Gray began fighting as well.

Lucy came on stage. "Stop it you guys!" She said trying to pull me and Juvia, and Gray and Natsu apart.

"Why does everything have to end in fighting?"

Suddenly, a sandbag dropped from the ceiling, landing just inches from me.

I stopped still holding onto Juvia's hair.

"Ow!Ow!Ow!Ow!Ow!" Said Juvia trying to pull my hand away.

"Dang it!" Said Erza coming over to me. "It didn't work!"

I released my grip on Juvia's hair.

"You tried to drop a sandbag on me?!" I yelled.

Erza had an evil glint in her eyes. "I must be the star of this show!"

She had clearly lost her mind.

"And it would have worked too, had you not been fighting!"

"oh you want a fight?!" I said. "Bring it on!"

"It'd be my pleasure!" Said Erza reqipping into her Heaven's Wheel armour.

"Ice Dragon…...Transform!"

My skin was replaced by icy dragon scales and silver horns appeared behind my ears.

"Oh no!Please don't fight! The council is already mad at me as is!"

"just like when me and Erza used to fight!" Said Mirajane.

"Waaaaaaa!" Cried Makarov.

"Master! Get ahold of yourself!" Said Elfman.

"Hey,no fair! I want to fight too!" Said Natsu running over to me and Erza, lighting his fists in flames.

"This show is mine!" Shouted Erza, sending 10 swords at both me and Natsu.

I sucked in the air around me.

"Ice Dragon…."

"Fire Dragon….."

"...ROAR!"

Our spells collided and made a huge explosion.

When the dust cleared, all that was left was the audience and half the stage.

We all stopped. There was a long pause.

In the audience was Makarov looking dazed as a little white spirit came out of him.

"Oh look. Something came out of him." Said Elfman.

He grabbed it and put it back in Gramps.

"WAAAAAAAAAAA!" Makarov began crying again.

There was another long silence.

Then, the crowd burst into applause.

"Best play ever!" Said Gajeel.

Everyone cheered in agreement.

"They loved it!" Said the client, amazed. "They actually loved it! Thank you so very much!"

"I can't believe it." I said dumbfounded.

"they actually _Liked_ it!" Added Gray.

"these guys must really like violence." Said Lucy.

The client turned to us. "Come along now! We still have 29 more shows to do!"

"UUUGGGHHH!" We all said in unison.


End file.
